


Akko the Sorceress

by femikol



Category: Little Witch Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe, Hidden Talents
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:55:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 37,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22331464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/femikol/pseuds/femikol
Summary: The Luna Nova School of Sorcery is a school for only the creme of the crop - where magical prodigies go to perfect their craft. Every so often, one or two students are tasked to audit their sister school “Luna Nova School of Witchcraft”, and every so often, the School of Witchcraft will take its students on a field trip to their sister school.
Comments: 22
Kudos: 77





	1. Morning Announcements

“C’mon, Suce. I don’ wanna go…” The barely audible voice of Astuko Kagari’s came out in a lazy drawl. “It’s too early for this.”

Akko - alongside Sucy and Lotte found themselves meandering down to Luna Nova’s Initiation Hall one lazy Saturday morning, courtesy of a notice pinned on the inside of their door that morning. Emblazoned on the paper in large, fancy red letters, was a notice requesting every student in Luna Nova to head to the specified destination for an announcement about a ‘special field trip’. Unfortunately for Akko, and judging by every other student’s zombie-like trance as they all trudged to the same destination like a mindless hoard, it was far, far too early for any announcement, no matter how exciting it was. Akko hadn’t even managed to change out of her pajamas, before she had thrown her uniform on! At least she was for all intents and purposes comfy, even if her eyelids felt like lead.

Sucy Manbavaran heaved a sigh. Any day she had to drag Akko out of her bed wasn’t destined to be a fun one. At times it felt like the girl deliberately made it harder than it had to be. Akko’s head began rhythmically bumping against her back, almost like an intrusive metronome. “Sorry, Akko. It’s beyond my control.”

“Cheer up, Akko!” Lotte seemed to be the only one out of the three who was still energetic, despite the unholy hour she had to get up at. The three were now just outside of their destination, their way of entry barred by the formless mass of their fellow peers. “Field trips are exciting! You never know where we’ll go!”

Once they got in, any hope of conversation was silenced by the loud drone of conversation. Everyone was talking to each other loudly. Too loud for Akko, who groaned, and buried her head into Sucy’s back in a vain attempt to block out the noise. Oh how she wished she was still in bed.

“Quit it.” Akko almost lost her balance as her ‘shield’ pushed her away. “We’re almost at our seats, airhead. You can fall asleep there.

Akko begrudgingly followed her companion, mechanically following in her every footstep, until the trio arrived at a bench with their team color adorning it. Akko immediately collapsed on it, leaning into it as much as she could, desperate to gain back the minutes of sleep she had lost. She tried her best to will the noise away, to make it just disappear. She could feel the constant pressure of sound ever present on her ears. She heard Lotte try to strike up a conversation with Sucy about what the field trip might be like, where they’d go, and what they’d do. She could hear the continuous sounds of everyone’s shoes so inconsiderately marching past her head, each one cutting further and further into her chances of drifting off. Akko grumbled, and pulled her head away from its precious resting spot. This wasn’t working at all.

“It really doesn’t matter where we go.” Sucy said. “As long as it’s short, it doesn’t affect me.

“Are you serious?” Lotte replied. “You’re not even the slightest bit curious where we’re going?”

“Why should I be? Holbrooke’s right there. We’re gonna find out right now.”

“I know, but still! You don’t even wanna-?”

“Good morning, students of Luna Nova!” Headmistress Holbrooke’s amplified voice boomed throughout the hall. Any faint shot of Akko getting her sleep back was gone along with any remaining conversation. “Thank you all for coming so early on such short notice! Like I promised, I have an announcement for you all about a special field trip!” The silence following her greeting was possibly even more deafening than her voice.

“Now listen, dears I know it’s early, but now is the only time to tell you before you’re all off to classes! And I promise you you’ll love it!” She paused, “But first, it’s time for some trivia!” Akko put her head in her hands as every other student made noises of outrage. Trivia in the morning?! This was just plain torture. Weren’t there laws against this? Holbrooke merely chuckled at the response. “Oh come, come my students. I promise this will be a learning experience for you all. Now,” It was like a switch in Holbrooke flipped. The atmosphere around her seemed to change. She straightened up, and her face adopted a more serious expression. “who here can tell me the difference between a witch and a sorceress?”

“Huh?!” Akko’s face rocketed out of her hands, now fully awake. It was a couple seconds before she realized how loudly she had yelled, before clamping her hands over her mouth. Her face turned beet red as she felt several pairs of eyes - including her teammates locking onto her.

“Something wrong Akko?” Lotte asked. Akko looked over at her friends quizzical expression as her mind worked a mile a minute to come up with a way to deflect the problem.

“Oh, nothing! I just… didn’t realise there were other groups of people outside of witches.” Akko said lamely. Lotte seemed to buy it, and Sucy’s “Figures, airhead,” didn’t escape her ears.

Akko turned her attention - fully this time - back to Holbrooke, who seemed to have selected Diana, as the familiar green-haired witch stood up and began to answer her question with practiced ease.

“A witch and a sorceress are two very similar creatures,” she began, “they are at their core, humans with an innate affinity for magic. They can both fly, cast spells, and so forth. The main difference that separates them is their affinity for it.” Diana spread her arms wide, feigning a scale. “We witches need a conduit to conduct our magic, and a source to accompany it. The most obvious examples being a broom for flight, or a wand for spells - as well as a sorcerer’s stone as our source. A sorceress has no such restriction. Her affinity with magic itself deep enough to make her own body the conduit, with the world around her as her source. She can fly, and cast spells on a whim with no aid necessary.”

“An excellent answer, Diana!” Holbrooke cheered. “Yes, exactly that! Sorceresses are exceptionally powerful witches, either by birth, or hard, hard work. I’m truly glad you know so much about them!”

Diana nodded, and sat back down. Hannah and Barbera immediately began to heap praise onto her in spades, but a quick hand motion from Diana was enough to bring them back into silence. Akko made a face at the trio, even if they couldn’t see her. Of course she’d know that.

“Now, the reason I’ve gathered you all here today, as I’m sure you all can guess, is because we’ll be going on a field trip to visit sorceresses at our sister school; Luna Nova School of Sorcery!” Holbrooke clapped her hands together excitedly, her enthusiasm too much for her tiny body. “All of you will learn so much on this trip! I can just feel it! Now, this is going to be a multi-day field trip…”

Holbrooke had long since lost Akko’s attention. The brunette was blankly staring ahead in front of her, her mind reeling. They were going on a trip to visit sorceresses? And this year of all times?! Akko shook herself out of her stupor, and immediately began to scan the sea of witches, desperately searching for one in particular. It wasn’t long before she found her target. A witch with fiery orange and red hair, and a pair of striking emerald eyes. Eyes that were looking right back at her.

Judging by her expression, Amanda O’Neil has caught just as off guard as Akko. Sure the concept of the School of Witchcraft coming to visit its sister school, the School of Sorcery wasn’t anything particularly novel, but it definitely complicated matters for the two girls, who just so happened to be auditing the School of Witchcraft this year.

“Akko!” Lotte’s shaking pulled Akko out of her thoughts. “Are you listening to Holbrooke?! She’s telling us what we’ll need!”

“Huh? Oh, yeah!” Akko haphazardly threw a grin onto her face, “I’m just so excited! I wonder if Shiny Chariot went there?”

“Doubt it.” Sucy’s snort pierced her ears. “Luna Nova’s School of Sorcery requires actual talent to get in to.”

“Hey! Knock it off with your - mmf!”

“Keep quiet, and pay attention.” Akko shot her friend a glare before giving her attention back to Holbrooke. The Headmistress was busy explaining what they’d be doing on the field trip, but none of it reached Akko’s ears. Akko’s mind was elsewhere at present. Notably trying to think up a way to either not go, or draw the least amount of attention to herself as possible during the duration of this trip. Maybe it was possible to just not go. There would still have to be professors here, right? They’d be able to look after any student that decided not to go. Yes, it was flawless. Akko let a smile creep onto her face. She’d be out of this in no time! She could -.

“Hey, Akko!” Akko was once again ripped out of her thoughts, but this time, from her fiery-haired cohort. Amanda was waving at Akko from her seat. By the looks of it, Holbrook had dismissed everyone, as all the students were amassing in front of the doors in a no less formless mass than before. “Can ya come down here for a minute?”

“I wonder what she wants.” Lotte said, “You want us to come with you Akko?”

“Huh? Oh, no thanks Lotte! I’m fine!” Akko waved her away. “I’ll just be a minute. And besides! You might want to follow Sucy to the cafeteria.” Indeed, the pink-headed witch had already maneuvered her way around her friends and was joining the mass of witches, seemingly eager to be anywhere but here. Akko couldn’t blame her. She too would under normal circumstances hightail it out of here as fast as she could.

“If you’re sure.” Lotte replied. “You’ll know where we’ll be.”

Once Sucy and Lotte were out of sight, Akko sprung into action, making her way down towards Amanda, vaulting over any offending seats in her way.

“Hi, Amanda!” Akko greeted, once she arrived in front of her friend. Around them their last few peers were rousing themselves from their seats and making their way presumably to either the cafeteria or their beds. “Where are Constanze and Jasminka?”

“Jasminka headed over to the cafeteria,” her friend shrugged, “so I sent Constanze down there with her just to make sure nothing happens.” Akko couldn’t help but giggle at the remark.

“I’m surprised you said that with a straight face.”

“Hey, you know me.” Amanda shot Akko a grin “I know how to act.” 

“Me too, right?” Akko jokingly replied. Amanda’s face took on a skeptical expression.

“What are you talking about Akko? You barely act.”

“Hey!”

“Hah! Anyways, it looks like we’re gonna have a few problems coming up soon.” Any retort Akko had to her friend’s cheeky remark died on her lips as the mood drastically shifted. “What do you wanna do about it?” Akko quickly scanned the room to see if there were any stragglers exiting the room before replying. It looked like it was just the two of them.

“Well that should be easy, right?” Akko asked, “Just don’t go?” Amanda’s previous expression morphed into a deadpan stare.

“Akko, were you listening to Holbrooke? She said everyone had to go. No exceptions.”

“...”

“...”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. ‘Oh.’” Akko felt her cheeks begin to burn in embarrassment under her friend’s gaze.

“W-well, what do you think we should do then?” She asked, certain that her cheeks were redder than her friend's hair. Amanda heaved a heavy sigh.

“Honestly? Beats me. Everyone at school knows us, so we can’t go as ourselves, and skipping isn’t an option. I don’t think we’ll get anywhere today though. What say you we just sit on it for a day and see what we can think of? I’ll shoot ya a message later so we could meet up or something. Sound good?”

“But why?” Akko huffed. The sound of her foot crushing the stone below here reverberated throughout the room. No, this was not alright! Something had to be done now! They needed as much time as possible to prepare and plan! “We can figure something out right now!”

“Oh, and I suppose you have a good idea of what we could do then?”

“W-well… I mean, we always could, uhhh…”

“Yeah?” Amanda prompted.

“Okay, fine.” Akko’s shoulders slumped forwards and she hung her head. “You’re right. I don’t.” Loathe as she was to admit it, Amanda was right. There wasn’t really anything she could think of. Still, time was of the essence! They had to do something fast!

“Thought so.” Amanda turned tail and began to walk towards the exit. “C’mon Akko, let’s go. We won’t figure out anything today. Just sleep on it, alright? I promise, it’ll do ya better than worrying about it all day. Anyways, I’m off to the cafeteria to find Constanze and Jaz. Also, Holbrooke said the trip was a few days away, so we’ve got plenty of time to figure out something, as long as we do it before the trip happens. We’ll talk more later, yeah?” Before Akko could formulate a response, Amanda was gone. She could only grit her teeth at her friends antics, before following her out of the room. Seriously, some people had no respect for time management!

She hoped the food was at least edible that day.


	2. Wind Down

The cafeteria was the loudest Akko had ever heard it.

Now that wasn’t to say that the cafeteria hadn’t been loud before. Quite the contrary, it had always been loud. It was the only place in the school where the teachers (specifically Finnelan) wouldn’t berate you for talking as loudly as you wanted, so making use of that feature was tantamount to a healthy and happy school life, but today it was positively booming with conversation. The usual roar of students talking to their classmates had been replaced with a monsoon of voices, as everyone kept talking about the same thing, yammering away about what they were hoping for on this field trip. Once she had her hands on some breakfast, Akko’s eyes flitted around the cafeteria, desperately trying to catch a glimpse of her friends. She eventually spotted them - Sucy and Lotte sitting at a table in the far corner of the cafeteria with the green team. Akko immediately began to make her way toward her friends. She had gotten about halfway to them before a tap on her shoulder made her turn around.

“Kagari.”

It was Diana standing not two feet away from her, clutching her breakfast tray in her hand. Behind her were Hannah and Barbara, each girl sporting a condescending look on her face. Akko immediately went on the defensive.

“What do you want Diana?"

“Nothing.” Diana didn’t even bat an eye at Akko’s immediate hostility. “I just wanted to remind you that we are going to a school rooted deep in magic. I’d like to remind you to remain civil while we are on this field trip. I do not want you embarrassing the school.”

“You should also pay attention!” Hannah jeered. “This school will have so much to teach an idiot like you!”

“Don’t call me an idiot!” Akko yelled, “I’ll learn loads there!” She then immediately rounded on Diana. “In fact, I’ll become a better witch than you while I’m there! Just watch me!”

Hannah and Barbara burst out laughing. “Yeah!” Barbara wiped a tear from her eye, “You might finally be able to hover in the air by the time you leave!”

“Girls, enough!” Diana’s voice cut through her roommates’ laughter. Akko was frankly impressed by how quickly they shut up, or maybe it was just how loud their surroundings were. “I merely came here to tell you to think twice about the way you carry yourself while we’re there.” Diana said. She turned on her heel and began to disappear into the crowd. “I have nothing more to say.” Hannah and Barbara shot Akko one last revolting look before following their leader into the throng, leaving Akko, red faced and furious at their antics, and Diana’s high and mighty attitude, to finally join her friends. Honestly, the nerve of those three! Akko hadn’t even gotten into trouble recently!

~~~~~

The excitement of this school field trip wasn’t lost on the red and green teams either, as most of them were also busy discussing what they were hoping to see or do on this field trip. By most of them Amanda meant Jasminka and Lotte, with Constanze occasionally shaking or nodding her head and Sucy only speaking if Lotte pressured her.

“Sucy, c’mon!” Lotte said, “You’ve gotta be at least a little interested in this school trip! It’s the most prestigious school for magic in the world! Only the best of the best make it in!”

“Eh…” Sucy’s face was completely devoid of interest. She actually sounded a little bitter. “There’s nothing there for me. I want to stay here and work on my potions. I was even gonna have a new brew ready next week.”

“Lotte,” Jasminka piped up, “it sounds like Sucy’s already made up her mind about this. I don’t think it’ll change.” Constanze nodded her head in agreement.

Whatever retort Lotte had ready died on her lips as the deafening sound of Akko’s tray crashing into the table sounded from just behind her. Everyone jumped at the sound, and Amanda herself nearly fell out of her chair.

“Akko?” Lotte watched the girl take her seat, recoiling at the waves of malice radiating off of her. “Did something happen?”

“Yeah, what’s up?” Amanda asked, “Was it Cavendish?” Akko nodded silently, glaring at her food like she was wishing it a slow and painful death.

“What’d she do this time?” Sucy asked.

“She stopped to remind me that I have to behave myself while we’re there!” Amanda’s snort was lost on everyone. _Is that it? Really?_ Akko began rapidly shoveling food into her mouth as she continued her tirade. “Why is she always getting on my case? I haven’t gotten into trouble all week!”

“You say that like it’s something to be proud of.”

“Shut up Sucy!”

“It’s the truth.”

A groan escaped Akko’s lips as she put her head in her hands. “Hannah and Barbara were there too.”

“Oh yeah?” Amanda asked, “Did they say anything?”

“They made fun of me again!” Akko’s fist collided with the table, prompting another jolt from everyone present. Jasminka gave Akko a sympathetic look as the girl continued. “They called me an idiot and made fun of my magic! They said that I’ll never be a great witch! Well they better get ready, ‘cause I’ll show them!” Amanda could barely bite back her laugh at that last remark. It was certainly true that Akko could show them. Hell, she _could_ show them right now if she really wanted to. In fact, with the way she barely kept her temper in check, it was surprising that she _hadn’t_.

“Sure,” Sucy deadpanned, “I can’t wait to see how that works out.” Akko growled at her friend before resuming her meal.

Amanda laid back in her chain again as the conversation struck up again, silently watching her friend eat. No two ways about it, her friend’s behavior stumped Amanda. She couldn’t figure out how Akko could get this heated over something so fictitious. Amanda knew Akko was good at magic. Akko _herself_ knew she was good at magic. There was no reason to get so upset at some half-baked remark two bullies said to her. Shrugging, Amanda chalked it up to her friend’s short temper and Akko’s strong distaste for bullying. Also pride. Definitely a little bit of pride.

~~~~~

Once Akko cleaned and cleared her plate, Lotte suggested they go and prepare for their first class. Amanda, Constanze, and Jasminka all agreed, and took off immediately. Sucy still had her tray in front of her, and left to put it away, leaving Lotte and Akko as the latter quietly simmered.

“So, Akko,” Lotte’s voice pulled Akko out of her thoughts.

“Yeah Lotte?”

“So, everyone else’s already talked about this, but what are you hoping for on this field trip?”

Akko could almost feel her brain freeze up, any part of her that could give out a reasonable answer stopping in its tracks. The rest of her began blindly throwing ideas around in her head. Maybe to see how beautiful their courtyard was? No, she wasn’t supposed to know that existed. Maybe a chance to meet more powerful witches? Eh, wasn’t that kinda lame? Maybe the -

“Uhhhh…” _Shoot!_ Akko mentally slapped herself.

“Akko?” Lotte’s expression quickly adopted one of concern. “Are you okay? Are you still bothered by what those two said?”

“Huh? Uhh, no, no! I’m fine.” Akko blurted out, perhaps a little louder than was necessary. “I just wanna see all of it!” Akko quickly threw a smile onto her face. “I really hope Chariot went there!” She said. Lotte flashed her a smile, albeit a nervous one.

“Akko, like Sucy said before, I don’t think that magic shows are…” Lotte paused, fishing for the best phrase. “ _Noteworthy_ enough to be recognized by the School of Sorcery, no matter how amazing they may be.” Akko crossed her arms and pouted.

“So what, are you saying Shiny Chariot wasn’t good enough?”

“Not necessarily.” Lotte put her hands up, “Just that show magic isn’t likely to be the kind of thing taught at -”

“What are you two arguing about?” Both girls turned their heads to find Sucy standing a few feet away from them. Once spotted, Sucy turned around and began making her way towards the exit. “Come on, let’s move. Class starts in a few minutes.”

“Alright.” Lotte agreed, quickly dropping the topic to follow her other friend. Once she noticed Akko wasn’t moving she turned around. “C’mon Akko,” she prompted, “We can talk more about it later.” The trio made their way back to their dorms to grab their books - and to let Akko finally change out of her night gown - before making their way towards their first class of the day. For the first time in a while, Akko was actually looking forward to her classes. She had more time to think about a way to skip out on going, or at least make the trip go smoothly.

Akko couldn’t come up with anything. She came up with nothing during her morning classes, or during lunch, which was just as loud as breakfast, nothing during her afternoon classes, or even dinner! By the time the bell signifying nighttime rang, Akko wasn’t in much of a good mood. She let out a sigh as she collapsed onto her bed. Being woken up at such an early hour probably wasn’t helping her creative juices.

“Akko, are you alright?” She heard Lotte’s voice. “You’ve been down all day.” Akko forced out a groan from her lips.

“I honestly didn’t expect you to get so mad over those two.” Sucy said. “They weren’t any different from usual.” Akko spared a glance at her roomates. They were getting out of their uniforms and into their nightgowns.

“Shut up Sucy.” Akko snapped. Sucy let out a cackle.

“C’mon, girls. Don’t fight.” Lotte who had fully changed was now up in her bunk. “Anyway, now that we’ve had time to sit on it, what’re you all hoping for?” Sucy was also fully dressed in her gown and was sitting on her own bed. She gave Lotte a withering look.

“You’re really not going to let up, are you?” She asked. She then turned her attention to Akko.

“But if we’re discussing this, we’re doing it _after_ you get ready for bed. I don’t want to be seen with a roommate who smells.” Akko obliged without a word, getting up and excusing herself. She grabbed her nightgown and made her way down to the showers. 

She didn’t run into anyone on her way there, since the evening rush had already passed. No one was in the shower rooms either. Finally, she was truly alone with her thoughts. She undressed, and cranked one of the showers to its hottest setting. The water burned her skin at the touch, but only for a minute. Her mind began to wander over the events of the day. It certainly wasn’t fun as far as she was concerned. Being woken up at six-o’clock was already bad enough, but the announcement just made it worse.

_Why did it have to be this year?_

The witches coming to visit was common knowledge at her school. Granted it had been something she had only heard about in her couple years of being enrolled. She was always excited at the idea of meeting an entirely new group of people, and making new friends, which was why when she and Amanda were told that they had been selected to enroll as newcomers to their sister school Akko had been nothing short of ecstatic. She had told everyone she knew about it, but now this trip was threatening to turn her temporary life on its head.

The water was losing its heat.

Akko’s thoughts drifted to her friend. How was she so carefree in this crisis? When Akko met up with her team during lunch and dinner Amanda was back to normal, talking and laughing with everyone like there was nothing on her mind. Maybe she was just taking it easy like she said she would? Akko heaved a sigh. Maybe she should try it then, but only because Amanda was right about her not getting any ideas today! This was a one night trial, and it’d better work!

The water was ice cold now, pulling Akko out of her thoughts. She quickly turned the water off and leaped out of the shower. She threw her nightgown on and made for her dorm.

Sucy and Lotte were still awake when she arrived. Both girls were on their respective beds, Lotte with a Nightfall book in hand and Sucy doing yoga.

“Look who’s alive.” Sucy said. “I thought you’d drowned or something.”

“You certainly look better.” Lotte remarked. “So did the shower do you good?”

“Mm-hm!” Akko said, giving the two her first genuine smile of the day. She happily flopped onto her bed and stretched. “Looks like that was all I needed!”

“That’s wonderful,” Sucy drawled. She gave Lotte the same look she had given her earlier, “Alright, let’s get this over with so we can finally get some sleep.”

“Alright, so what are you girls looking forward to on this trip?” Lotte asked, diving right in. “You first, Akko.”

“Me? Uhh...” Akko wasn’t prepared to be asked so abruptly, and quickly scrambled for an idea for the second time today. Once again, she could only think of the same few ideas. Well, meeting people more advanced in magic was something she loved, so she opted for that, even if it was still a little weak. “Probably meeting more powerful witches!” Akko said. If the novelty of going to the school was lost on her she could at least get into seeing some old faces again. “It’s gonna be so much fun!”

“Y’know, if you were paying attention, they’re not ‘witches’ Akko.” Sucy said, not even trying to hide her amusement. Akko rounded on her friend.

“I know that! At least I’m excited to go see them!”

“I’m not sure how that matters.”

“Girls, please.” Lotte said, “What about you Sucy?” Sucy rolled her eyes, and let herself fall back onto her bed, staring up at the ceiling.

“Well, I can’t say that I’m excited to be away from my work,” Sucy said. Akko could see her mouth morph into a devilish grin, “but I guess I can see this trip as a way to expand my wares.” Akko could swear she felt the temperature drop a few degrees.

“W-well, I’m glad you found something to be excited about, Sucy.” Lotte said, “Anyways, I’ll go next.” Akko listened to Lotte launch into a spiel about spirits and how she was hoping to talk to one, and smiled. This was nice. This one night trial of Amanda’s was working like a charm. No worries, no stress. With this newfound freedom, her eyes were beginning to grow heavy, desperate to close and let sleep wash over her, so she let them. Now in her twilight state she heard Lotte ask her something.

“Sure thing, whatever you say Lotte.” She mumbled, not even sure if Lotte heard her. The last thing Akko herself caught before she fully drifted off was Sucy’s voice.

“You could totally hold that over her.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is a chapter belated but thank you for taking the time to read this. If you have any writing advice for me, say parts that didn't go smoothly or something please let me know. I'm always down to hear constructive criticism. I hope you have a good one!


	3. Planning Ahead

It had been two days since the field trip was announced. Two days since Akko and Amanda had agreed to put their heads together and figure out a workaround.

It had also been two days of radio silence.

Akko could feel the time slip away as she lay in bed on the morning of the third day. She could feel every second as she lied there with her eyes closed, willing for time to stop with all her might, but the fiend ignored her plea, imperially marching on without remorse. Akko groaned. How had time slipped through her fingers so quickly? This wasn’t fair. She had been racking her brain for forty-eight hours! Wringing it dry for any semblance of an idea, but only coming up empty! She deserved to have figured out something by now!

“What’re you groaning about?” A drab, and painfully blunt voice asked.

“Nothing, Sucy.” Akko said, “Just tired.” She forced out a yawn, to prove her point, not that it needed much coaxing in the first place. Akko had for the past two nights not gotten anything that could be considered a decent night’s rest. She had only gotten about four hours of sleep maximum on the first night and even less on the second. At the rate it was going, Akko wagered she wouldn’t get any rest that night period.

“Well like it or not, it’s time to get up. Grab your books, classes are in half an hour.” Akko only groaned louder.

“Now.”

“Fine.” Akko reluctantly rose from her bed. Her entire body felt like lead, and Standing up only exacerbated that feeling. Judging by how she felt, Akko figured she probably looked more like Sucy now than she ever would again.

“Akko, are you alright?” Akko turned around. Lotte was still in her bunk. Her glasses were on and she was looking at Akko with a look Akko could only peg as concern. “You look terrible.”

“Couldn’t sleep.” Akko replied. _Sounds like I was right._ She felt her legs give way and collapsed back onto her bed. She propped herself into a sitting position and stared blankly at her lap. She was so tired she wished nothing more than to fall back onto her bed and close her eyes once more. A shadow fell over her, causing her to look up. It was Sucy. She was fully dressed, pushing Akko’s uniform into her chest.

“Get dressed.” She ordered, “We haven’t got all day." Akko grumbled, forcing herself to rise, and barely catching the uniform before it fell from her lap.

“Better,” Sucy remarked, “now hurry up.” Akko obliged, working as quickly as she could, which wasn't that fast. She could feel Sucy’s gaze on her the whole time, piercing through her body as she slipped out of her nightgown and into her school uniform. Once Akko had finished changing, Sucy wasted no time in grabbing her hand and pulled her out of the dorm room. “Let’s go. I’m not walking at your pace.” Akko almost fell over at the sudden force from Sucy. Thankfully, Lotte was just behind her just in case.

Akko couldn’t count the number of times she almost tripped over herself on the way to the cafeteria. Fortunately for the trio, however, they made it down to the cafeteria at a reasonable time. Unfortunately for Akko, the cafeteria was just as loud as it had been on the day of the announcement. Instinctively, she tore her hand away from Sucy and slapped them both on her ears. Akko was at her breaking point. Between not thinking straight from a combined six hours of sleep over the past two nights, and an excruciatingly loud environment combined with the slowly compounding stress and frustration of not being able to come up with a solution for her current predicament was too much for her. Akko had to remove something from the equation, _now_. The cafeteria. She looked around. The door was now blocked by a gaggle of students. It would be impossible to navigate around them, and the noise was getting louder by the second. Akko realized her only option was to teleport. As if on cue, she felt a small burning sensation in the deepest recesses of her core. Magic. She looked around. Sucy and Lotte were no longer in sight.

 _Perfect._ she thought, _Okay, Akko! You can do it!_ Akko gave herself the green light to go ahead and teleport. After all, Sucy and Lotte wouldn’t notice if she did it right? All at once she felt the little sensation in her core begin to grow. It ignited, spreading all over Akko like an untamable wildfire. Her entire body was alive with it. She could feel it coursing through her blood, more and more of it being generated with every beat of her heart, and with every breath she took. She could feel her magic now in a way she hadn’t truly felt in months, ever since she was forced to put on this mask of an inept witch. All she had to do now was simply recite the incantation in her head, and she’d be back in her team’s dorm room again.

_Vira Guasa-_

Akko felt someone tap on her shoulder, and her mind immediately froze. All the magic she had stored in her body awaiting her command dissipated in the blink of an eye as she whirled around to face whoever it was. What if Sucy or Lotte had found her and were about to see her teleport? What if it was Diana here to remind her about watching herself again, or some of the staff, or even-

It was Amanda.

Oh.

She let her hands fall back to her sides, taking a good look at her friend. Amanda looked the exact opposite of how Akko felt. Akko could swear she was standing a good two inches taller than she usually did, and was sporting the widest grin on her face Akko had ever seen. Said grin immediately fell however when she saw Akko’s face.

“Akko?” She asked. “You okay?” Akko only grunted in response.

“Couldn’t sleep?” Akko nodded. Amanda put a hand on the back of her neck and sighed. 

“Akko, I told you not to worry about this. It’s not even the day of the trip yet, okay?”

“It’s tomorrow.” Akko hissed, a part of her thankful Amanda had chosen to stand so close so Akko didn’t have to raise her voice much. Amanda’s eyes widened slightly at the news.

“Oh, really? Guess I forgot.” Akko’s brain went from frozen in place to burning in anger in an instant at Amanda’s attitude. This was serious business! Their livelihoods were on the line here! There was still so much to do and Akko hadn’t even thought of a plan of action! Nor had Amanda for that matter!

“Anyways I wanted to tell you.” Amanda began, “I came up with an idea.” Akko balked at Amanda. If that was true that certainly simplified matters, but Akko wasn’t done being angry yet.

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?!” Akko asked. Amanda immediately put up her hands.

“Geez, Akko! Chill.” She said, “I only came up with it this morning. Cut me some slack here.” Akko folded her arms and pointed her nose away from Amanda. Despite being grateful for Amanda for promising an idea, she still deserved the cold shoulder for her blase attitude she had earlier. Amanda only chuckled.

“Well, listen. Meet me at the Sorcerer’s Stone tonight. I’ll tell you all about it then.” Akko said nothing, allowing Amanda to take her leave. Once she was sure her friend was out of sight, Akko grabbed a tray and started shoving food onto it, before trying to find her friends. She only had a few minutes to find them and explain where she went before the first bell for classes rang. She found them with enough time to spare to wolf down her breakfast and sprint to her class. By the time they all settled into their seats, Akko already felt better. Even the idea that Amanda had a potential solution was enough to lift a great weight from her shoulders.

By the time evening rolled around Akko, Sucy and Lotte had finished their last class of the day, and the three girls were in the process of packing up their effects before leaving. Akko’s grudge against Amanda had dissipated, and even her worries about this trip were dropping one by one. It wasn’t that they were gone in their entirety, but Akko was confident that she wouldn’t lose anymore sleep over them

Probably.

“You look better.” Sucy said. Akko looked up at her friend.

“Huh?”

“You aren’t lugging those bags around under your eyes anymore.” Sucy finished packing up and turned her attention fully to Akko, one of her trademark grins stitched onto her face. “Is it because you slept through all of your classes?”

Akko could feel her face begin to burn. It was true that she had slept through most of her classes today, but she had been stressing out! She had a lot on her mind! Still, she was not about to let Sucy get away with that remark!

“W-well, the classes were easy today, so I decided to catch up on some sleep.” Sucy only shrugged. Her regular bored look back on her face.

“Sure. Just don’t come crying to me for notes.”

The trio quickly made their way back to the dorms to drop off their belongings before hightailing it down to the cafeteria.

It was like someone had left a jet engine roaring in the cafeteria. It was loud, to put it lightly. Louder than it had ever been these past few days. Akko swore she would go deaf if she stayed there for long enough. The noise was so intense she could feel it all the way down to her bones, shaking and playing with them as it pleased. The entire school had to be here, each student desperately trying to talk over their peers. The air was crackling with excitement, with anticipation. Akko could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end just from being in the same room. But who could blame them? This was the final night before the field trip. Akko, Sucy and Lotte didn’t even bother trying to talk to each other. They quickly grabbed their dinner, making sure they weren’t too far apart just in case they got separated, and scoured the vicinity looking for an empty table.

After about five whole minutes of searching, Akko felt a tap on her shoulder. It was Lotte. She pointed to a point behind Akko, mouthing… something. Akko followed Lotte’s finger to the second floor of the cafeteria. It was the green team, with Amanda waving them down. The trio immediately stopped searching and started making their way towards their friends.

“Hey, you three.” Amanda greeted them once they arrived. She was grinning from ear to ear. “Enjoying the show?” She gestured to the formless mass of students on the first floor. Akko, Sucy, and Lotte all nodded.

“I thought I was gonna go deaf.” Akko whined. She slumped against the railing before she tore into her food.

“I agree with Akko,” Lotte said. She sighed, “It’s surprising it’s so barren up here.

“It’s pretty nice isn’t it?” Amanda said. The two teams were all sitting down now, enjoying the comparative quietness of the second floor. What was once a noise not too dissimilar to a plane was now more akin to a constant thunderstorm.

“It is.” Lotte agreed. She looked down at the crowd. “I never knew our school could be so loud.

“Eh, it’s the night before the field trip.” Amanda said. “Everyone’s excited about something or other I guess.” Constanze nodded her head.

“Mm.”

“I just wish they weren’t so loud about it.” Sucy said. “Have they never heard of ‘peace and quiet’?”

“I don’t being excited is a bad thing.” Jasminka piped up. She didn’t seem to be minding the noise at all.

“That’s true.” Amanda said. She put down her tray, which was already empty, before crossing her arms behind her head, leaning back into the railing. “I suppose I can’t wait to go too.”

The rest of the conversation went by at a rapid pace, but nothing that hadn’t already been discussed was said. Once Constanze had finished eating, Amanda stood up, her teammates following in suit.

“Alright, I think we’re gonna head back to the dorms.”She said, “Constanze and Jaz wanted to pack a few things before we left tomorrow. You all probably should too. Who knows how early we’re gonna leave.”

“That’s awfully proactive of you, Amanda,” Lotte said, impressed. Amanda only chuckled.

“Well, it beats being tired for the big day.” She said. “Catch you girls later.” The two teams said their goodbyes and the green team left. With no one but themselves up on the second floor, and Sucy and Lotte having just finished their meals, the red team decided to follow in their friend’s footsteps.

“Are we really gonna start packing at seven?” Sucy asked once the trio left the cafeteria.

“W-well, yeah.” Lotte said “I think what Amanda and the others are doing is a good idea. And besides, you never know what you might need on this trip!”

“I guess.” Sucy said. “Not that I have much I need to pack anyways.”

“Well, we can always go to bed early.” Lotte suggested.

“You’re starting to sound like Akko in a way.” Sucy quipped.

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?!” Akko cut in. What was she trying to imply?! Sucy just cackled.

The team had arrived at the dorms now. Akko decided she didn’t want to have to dodge the curfew patrol at night, and besides, Amanda hadn’t given Akko a specific time, so now was the best time to go, especially because Lotte wanted to pack up and go to bed early.

“Oh, uhhh… girls?” Akko asked. Sucy and Lotte turned around.

“Yeah Akko?” Lotte asked.

“What is it?”

“S-sorry about this, but I totally forgot.” Akko put her hands up and smiled sheepishly. “I promised Professor Ursula that I’d meet with her to practice my magic, and that was tonight, heh-heh.” Sucy only shrugged and left. Turning back around to head back to their room. Lotte, on the other hand, looked concerned.

“Akko, what about packing? You’ll have to do it in the morning.”

“It’s fine.” Akko replied. “I’ll manage.” Lotte’s concerned expression didn’t leave.

“Is it what those two said a few days ago?” She asked. “Is it still bothering you?”

Akko only blinked. Those two? Did she mean Hannah and Barbara? What had they said a few days ago? They said so much to her so often Akko could barely what they said earlier that day, let alone a few days ago.

“About your magic?”

 _Oh yeah!_ Akko remembered the less than pleasant exchange she had with them after the announcement.

“Oh! Uhhh, no! No!” Akko started to wave her arms around frantically, “That’s all in the past! This is to get me ready for tomorrow! Yeah, that’s it!” She struck a pose. “I want to impress the school with my magic! Maybe they’ll even let me join the School of Sorcery!” Lotte gave Akko a sympathetic smile.

“Uhhh, Akko?” Lotte began, “I don’t think this school will let anyone apply. We’re only on a field trip you know.” Akko gave Lotte a questioning look.

“But anyone can apply.”

As soon as those words left her lips, a countless amount of sirens went off in her head, taking over her thought process. Why did she say that? She wouldn’t know that! Lotte might figure her out! Akko shook her head and looked at Lotte, whose smile had been replaced by one of confusion.

“What do you mean, Akko?” She asked. “It’s the most prestigious school to magic kind. They’d be seeking people out, not the other way around.

“Well, sure, but you never know.” Akko said lamely. She could feel her cheeks burning hotter than the sun at her little slip-up. Thankfully Lotte hadn’t noticed, though that was probably due to the misinformation spread by the witching community. The fact that anyone could apply to the School of Sorcery was surprisingly not well known. It being the best school for sorceresses in the world in addition to its remarkably low acceptance rate was probably the prime reason for the assumption among witches (at least that was Amanda’s guess), and nobody had really bothered to correct it. Lotte gave Akko another smile.

“I suppose. If that’s true, do you think Diana would apply?”

Akko’s lip curled at the thought. Yes, it was possible that Diana could get in given her magical ability. But to have her follow Akko back to her school! No way!

“I hope not.” Akko said, “It’d go to her head.” Lotte chuckled at the response.

“You know I’d think that you’d want her to leave instead, Akko.” Akko frowned.

“She’d probably think she was the queen of the world if she got in.” Akko said, in an attempt to justify her claim. Lotte shook her head.

“I don’t think so, Akko.” She said, “I think Diana would make a great sorceress.” Akko crossed her arms and pouted. From what she had seen Diana pull off, Akko would begrudgingly admit that yes, Diana could become a good sorceress, or perhaps even a great one if she attended the school. But still, before she did that the girl had to learn how to lighten up! She looked like she never had any fun!

“Anyways I’ve got to go pack.” Lotte said. She began to make her way down the hall towards the dorms. “Good luck with Professor Ursula!” She called out, before disappearing around a bend.

“Goodnight Lotte!” Akko called back before taking off. She sprinted as fast as she could down the next two flights of stairs. She pulled out her wand once she exited the building. She ignited the tip with ease, providing her a light source as she sprinted across the dark and chilly campus towards the tall silhouetted tower in the distance.

It took her a couple of minutes but she finally climbed all of the tower’s steps. A small wind greeted her arrival, chilling Akko as it passed through her. Amanda was already there by the time Akko arrived. She was near the edge, leaning against the railing. She immediately straightened up once she saw Akko, and flashed her a grin.

“Look who showed up.” She teased. Akko crossed her arms, giving Amanda a glare.

“I got here as soon as I could.”

“Sure, but I got here quicker.”

“That doesn’t matter.” Akko grumbled. Amanda doubled over laughing.

“You’re right. It doesn’t.” She said. “At least not right now.” She straightened up and sauntered over to Akko. “‘Cause this girl’s got an idea.” She slung an arm over Akko’s shoulder and gave her a playful jostle before leaning close to Akko’s ear.

“You remember ‘the Meetup’ right?” She said. She gave Akko a minute to think it over before she pulled away from her friend, looking quite smug.

Akko raised an eyebrow in confusion. Of course she remembered the meetup. The Midnight Magic Meetup usually abbreviated to ‘MMM’ or ‘the Meetup’ was an extracurricular activity for students that took place from just after dinner all the way until after midnight, hence the name. It was run by students, for students, with staff members taking shifts to supervise and chaperone. Akko and Amanda were regulars there before they left, helping out students who were struggling in one way or another. It would be impossible to forget.

“Of course I remember.” She said. “What about it?” Amanda’s smile faltered a little.

“C’mon Akko! Think!”

 _Okay._ Akko began sifting through potential ideas involving the Meetup, trying to construct a series of events. So they’d go back to their school with the rest of the witches, stick with them until evening, get the Meetup…

Then what? Akko stared blankly at Amanda. She couldn’t understand what was supposed to come next.

“I dunno. What are you saying?” She asked. Amanda groaned, slapping her palm against her face.

“C’mon, Akko. It should be obvious.” She said, “Okay, look. Here’s what I’m getting at. You ready?” Akko nodded.

“Okay, great. Now check this out.” Her grin was back on her face. “So here’s what’s gonna happen. We’ll have to be with the witches for the entire trip. We’ll have to follow their rules and do whatever they want, right? But when night hits, and everyone else goes to bed, we’ll sneak out and go to the Meetup. You follow?”

“Yeah,” Akko said.

“Okay, great. Well, when we get to the meetup, we can explain to everyone our situation. Tell ‘em what’s going on and to spread the word.” She gave Akko a thumbs up. “As a bonus, it'll be a great way to catch up with everyone.”

Akko mulled over what Amanda was suggesting. It certainly was simple enough in theory, and would require minimal effort on their part, but didn’t it seem a little risky? Relying on word of mouth alone to spread the word? From Amanda’s expression, she must’ve been able to guess what Akko was thinking because she saddled up next to Akko and gave her a pat on the shoulder.

“Don’t worry about it. You know the girls, they’re a chatty bunch. Word’ll travel around just fine.”

Akko sighed. Amanda had a point. The friends they made at their school were quite talkative. She didn’t have any real rebuttal to Amanda’s logic. It sounded like Amanda had thought this one through, but still…

“If only I had your confidence in this Amanda.” Akko said. Amanda only laughed.

“Trust me, it’s a gift.” She said. The wind began to grow in intensity, eliciting a shiver from the two girls.

“Eesh, it’s getting kinda nippy.” Amanda said. She pulled away from Akko and began to make her way towards the stairs. “Alright, it’s gonna get late soon, and I wanna go catch some sleep. Also pack like I suggested. You should too. Tomorrow’s the big day after all.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Akko said. “Goodnight Amanda!”

“G’night!”

Akko watched her friend’s retreating form for a few seconds before making her way towards the railing. She leaned into it and gazed out at the School of Witchcraft. A fair amount of lights were still on in both dorms and classrooms. Akko sighed. She had been doing that a lot lately, hadn’t she? But she felt conflicted. She was excited to see her friends again, really, she was. Akko felt a grin slowly creep onto her face at the thought of them. She couldn’t help but wonder what each of them were up to. It’d be fun to catch up with them like Amanda suggested, and hear about what classes they were taking and whatnot, but at the same time…

Akko felt her grin slowly begin to fade.

It wasn’t the right time. Not now. It was supposed to be over the summer or next school year.

Akko lost track of how long she had been up there, thinking about her friends. Only coming out of her thoughts when a particularly cold blast of air washed over her. She took a good look at the school, almost all the lights were out. Akko wasted no time in sprinting down the tower steps and dashing across the campus back to her dorm.

When she got there, it was pitch black. Judging by the sounds in her dorm, both Sucy and Lotte were asleep. Akko quietly closed the door and began to feel her way towards her bed, silently cursing as she stubbed her toes on various objects lying about the floor. When she got to her bed, she felt a strange fabric on top of it. Feeling it a little more, she quickly recognized it to be her nightgown. She thought about heading down to the showers but decided against it. She could probably live without a shower for one night. She’d just have to remember to take one in the morning. Shrugging, she slipped out of her uniform and into her nightgown. She climbed into bed and pulled the soft covers over her. Once she was settled in, she felt a yawn flutter up from deep within her and escape her lips. She was exhausted and needed her sleep. She closed her eyes, begging for sleep to overtake her.

For the first time in a few days, Akko didn’t have much trouble dozing off.


	4. First Glance

The first thing Akko felt in the morning was her entire body being shaken.

This wasn’t uncommon. Akko had at numerous points throughout her school career been woken up in this way, be it at her old school or this one for a myriad of different reasons, although usually it was for sleeping in. Although this morning the jostling was uncharacteristically violent.

“Akko!” It was Lotte. Funny, it was usually Sucy who woke her up every morning.

“Akko, wake up! The field trip’s today!”

“Huh?!” Akko was immediately on high alert. Her body immediately bolted upright, narrowly missing Lotte. “That’s today?!”

“Of course it is.” Sucy’s voice called out. “What day have you been focused on for the past three days?”

Akko felt her cheeks begin to heat up as her mind caught up with her. She caught Sucy’s deadpan expression and looked away.

“W-well, I didn’t get good sleep last night.” Akko said. “That’s why I didn’t remember.”

“That explains why it was so hard to wake you up.” Sucy said. She casually shook a bottle of liquid at Akko. “I was about to test this out, but Lotte didn’t let me.”

Akko felt a chill creep up her spine when she saw the liquid. Whatever it was couldn’t be good.

“How late were you up, Akko?”

Akko turned her attention to Lotte. “Uhhh… Twelve?” Akko said. She gave her a sheepish smile. “Guess I got carried away with Professor Ursula, heh-heh.”

“Sounds like it.” Sucy said. She opened a drawer and fished out a uniform, before throwing it at Akko. The uniform collided with her head with pinpoint accuracy. “Now get dressed. We haven’t got all day.”

Akko peeled the clothes from her face and glared at Sucy before obliging, slipping out of her nightgown and into her uniform.

“Alright,” Sucy said once Akko had finished changing. “Start packing. Lotte and I are already done.”

Akko glanced at the clock. It was six. Breakfast was in an hour. She wasted no time in springing up from her bed and rummaging underneath it. She pulled out her backpack and dumped all of its contents onto her bed. She looked over it. There were a couple of souvenirs she’d picked up for her friends. Things like a spare Luna Nova uniform hat she’d bought at the school store. She hastily folded it and stuffed it into her backpack, along with her nightgown.

Akko lost track of the time as she continued to stuff her backpack with various odds and ends, from her shiny chariot poster to her wand, and a couple more souvenirs for her friends. Akko sighed. She was finally done. She glanced at the clock. It was 7:55. She stood up and did a backbend, only to come face to face with Sucy.

“Waugh!” Akko immediately righted herself. “Don’t sneak up on me like that!”

“I wasn’t sneaking.” Sucy said, “You just weren’t looking.”

Akko felt her cheeks heating up. She folded her arms and pouted at Sucy before looking away.

“Anyways you’re forgetting something.” Sucy said. She pointed to the team’s clothes drawer. “Unless you like smelling like rotting meat.”

Akko scowled and marched over to the drawer. She snatched up a spare uniform before cramming it into her pack.

“Are you done?” Sucy asked. “Good. Let’s go.” Akko turned around just in time to see Sucy vanish out of the room.

“Huh? Hey, Sucy, wait up!” Akko’s words fell on deaf ears as the door shut, leaving only her and Lotte. The two girls looked at each other for a moment before Lotte shrugged.

“We should probably get going, Akko.” Lotte said. Akko nodded, and the two girls pushed open their dorm room door.

The hallways were unrecognizable when Akko stepped out of her room. The ground was practically vibrating from the constant stampede of students milling about the hallway. There were students running from room to room, students running up and down the stairs, students just running in general. Akko scanned the river of witches for Sucy. She wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

 _Curses!_ She’d just have to make a break for the cafeteria.

“Hey Akko, what are you doi-”

Lotte’s voice was cut off once Akko entered the throng of students. The noise from all of the talking - which was already loud before - quickly evolved into a never-ending, excruciating roar. She had to fight in order to squeeze by her peers, pushing and shoving anyone close to her. She had half a mind to just teleport. It’d be infinitely easier than making her way through this malarky. But she couldn’t. It was too risky, and she was too preoccupied to remember the incantation anyway.

Sucy was already waiting for the two girls by the time Akko and Lotte arrived at the cafeteria. She was leaning against the entrance, looking extremely bored.

“About time.” She said.

Akko glared at Sucy. Who was she to tell them off for arriving late? She left them! Akko opened her mouth to speak, but Sucy quickly turned around and pushed open the entrance.

“Come on, let’s go. We haven’t got all day.”

Akko filed this away in her mind, determined to get back at Sucy for this later.

The cafeteria was surprisingly quieter than it had been the past few days, and by a sizable margin. However, that wasn’t to say that it was quiet, in fact the cafeteria was still louder than it usually was. Akko looked around the room. Only about half of the seats were full.

“Everyone else must still be packing.” Lotte said.

Akko nodded. “Yeah, looks like it.”

“If it means breakfast is quieter then fine by me.” Sucy said.

The trio quickly grabbed their breakfast and made their way to an empty table by the windows. It was far removed from the rest of the students, and none of the girls felt like making their way to the second floor. They each pulled up a chair and started to eat. After a few moments, Lotte broke the silence.

“So girls, how do you think we’re gonna get there?” She asked.

“Beats me.” Sucy said, “We don’t even know where it is.”

“We could fly there.” Akko said between mouthfuls of food. “It’s probably close by.”  
Sucy glowered at Akko.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full.” She snapped. “It’s disgusting.”

“I don’t think it’ll be by flight, Akko.” Lotte said. “I’ve never seen any sorceresses around the school, so it’s probably far away, and the Sorcerer’s Stone only covers the campus. Carrying it there with all of our belongings would be more trouble than it’s worth.

“So the Leyline.” Sucy said. “It’s the only other way.”

“I guess.” Lotte said. “But if our Leyline actually had a connection to the School of Sorcery, wouldn’t we know if it did?”

“How so?”

“Well, if the Leyline actually connected to the School of Sorcery wouldn’t we see them around fairly often?”

Akko shook her head slightly. No actually, they wouldn’t. The School of Sorcery made no effort to keep quiet about it, but the Leylines were actually linked. There was a spell (or maybe even a codeword) that only the faculty knew of that would let the schools interact with each other in case of an emergency, and if Akko had to guess probably this too. Of course, the staff was incredibly tight-lipped on what it even was, so no student could traverse it freely.

“Akko?” Lotte asked. “You don’t think so?”

The question kicked Akko out of her thoughts. Lotte had seen that? She had to think of something quick!

“W-well, not exactly, but uhhh…” Akko stammered. “Y-you just never know with magic, y-know?” She shot her friends a sheepish smile.

“Are you saying that the Leyline would respond to external magic?” Lotte asked. “If that’s the case, then wouldn’t the sorceresses know how to trigger it?”

Akko put her hands up. “Well, yeah, you’re right. I guess I was wrong, haha!”

“That’s awfully quick for you to back down, Akko.” Sucy jabbed.

Akko mentally kicked herself. She was acting suspicious! At this rate she’d blow her own cover before they got to school! Akko looked around frantically, desperate for a distraction. Something, anything! It didn’t matter what it was!

“Akko?” Lotte asked.

“Hey girls!” It was Amanda, along with Constanze and Jasminka making their way towards the table.

“What’s going on here?” Amanda asked once her team had sat down. “Akko looks about ready to keel over.”

“We were just talking about how we’re gonna get to the School of Sorcery.” Lotte said. “Akko thinks we’ll use the Leylines.”

Akko gave Amanda an apologetic look. Or at least she gave as much of one as she could without being caught by her friends. Amanda seemed unfazed.

“Oh yeah?” She asked. “Constanze, Jas and I all think so too.” She leaned back in her chair. “How else are you gonna transport an entire school? Bus?”

Lotte thought about it for a minute. “That’s true.” She said. “I guess I never thought about that.”

Akko could feel her heart rate steadily returning to its normal pace. Thank goodness she had Amanda. She didn’t know what she’d do without her.

“So you girls just got here?” Lotte asked, gesturing to Amanda’s and Constanze’s untouched breakfast trays.

“Yeah, we did.” Amanda replied. “We mostly packed last night, but figured we could take a little more with us.”

“Like what?” Lotte asked.

Amanda shrugged. “Nothing much. Just a couple snacks. Constanze is bringing her Stanbots though.” Constanze nodded her head.

“Are you girls bringing anything?” Jasminka asked. Her tray was already empty.

“I’m bringing some tools to talk to spirits.” Lotte said, a huge smile on her face. “Since we’re going to a new school we’ll probably run into new spirits! I can’t wait to see what I find!”

“Potions equipment.” Sucy replied. The green team’s eyes turned to Akko.

“I uhhh… haven’t finished yet.” Akko said, giving her best effort to dodge the question. Amanda let out a laugh.

“Oh yeah?” She gave Akko a knowing look. “What were you doing last night, Akko?”

“I was… practicing magic with Professor Ursula.” Akko replied lamely.

Amanda’s gaze snapped away from Akko. “Well, you might want to finish that.” She pointed towards the other side of the cafeteria. It was Holbrooke, slowly but surely making her way through the mass of students, and climbing up onto the stage.

By the time Holbrooke had turned to face the cafeteria, the venue had gone completely silent. All eyes were on the Headmistress as she waved her wand, mouthing an incantation Akko couldn’t hear.

“Good morning, students of Luna Nova!” Holbrooke’s voice thundered throughout the cafeteria in a way that seemed to fill the air itself. “This is a schoolwide announcement! I am pleased to announce that today is the day of the field trip! I am very excited for you all!” Holbrooke was bobbing up and down as she spoke, barely able to contain herself. “I hope you are all packed and ready to go because we will not be returning here until the field trip is over! We will be departing for the School of Sorcery at nine o’clock exactly, which gives you all one hour to finalize your preparations! Please meet in front of the Leyline in ceremonial uniform around that time! If you have any questions, you can find me in the Cafeteria! I know some of you haven’t eaten yet! It’s bad for your health.”

Not five seconds after Holbrooke finished speaking the cafeteria roared to life. Several students shot out of their seats like they had been burned, before sprinting out of the cafeteria, leaving their empty or half-empty food trays on the counter. Akko was no exception.

“Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no!” She yelled. “I’m gonna be late!” Okay, so maybe she wasn’t going to be late, but she’d rather finish packing as soon as possible. The rest of the table stood up with her.

“We’ll see you there at the Leyline.” Amanda said. “We’re gonna go change.”

“Alright.” Lotte said. “See you girls later!”

Once the teams finished saying their goodbyes, Akko sprinted out of the cafeteria as fast as she could. She pushed her way through the myriad of her peers, her tight time limit the only thing on her mind.

Once Akko arrived at her dorm she wasted no time in throwing it open. She immediately rushed to her clothes drawer and pulled her ceremonial uniform out. She put it on in record time before turning her attention to her backpack. It was respectably full, but there was still some room.

“Enough room for a notebook.”

Akko whipped her head around. It was Sucy and Lotte. They had their ceremonial uniforms in hand. Lotte looked a little out of breath.

“You could’ve slowed down a little Akko.” Lotte said.

Akko gave them a sheepish smile. “Sorry girls,” she said. “I guess I was just worried I wouldn’t finish.”

“You have an hour.” Sucy glanced up at the clock. It was fifteen past eight. “Forty-five minutes.” She corrected herself. “I doubt you’re going to be late.”

“You’re right…” Akko mumbled. She blushed. So maybe she was a little nervous. But who could blame her? She was gonna get caught if she didn’t play her cards right!

“Anyways, you might want a notebook.” Sucy repeated. “This isn’t a vacation.”

“Fine.” Akko said. She went over to her desk and began to rummage in it. She opened her notebooks one by one and began flipping through them. Most of them were filled with what could barely be considered notes. Some random numbers letters, and a few lazy diagrams she had sketched from memory. She eventually found one with only a few pages of doodles. It would have to do. She picked it up and placed it in her backpack. It was more or less full by now, with just a little space left. Akko pulled her wand out from her sash and tucked it in with the rest of the contents. She zipped the pack closed. It was completely full now.

“We should probably get going now.” Lotte said. All three of them had fully changed. Sucy and Lotte had their brooms in hand. “If it took us fifteen minutes to get here it’ll probably take longer getting to the Leyline.”

“Sure.” Sucy said. She hoisted her backpack onto her shoulders and pushed open the door.

Lotte was right. With the hour ticking by the halls had only gotten worse. The trio could barely move anywhere, constantly fighting against a current of students always seeming to be against them. Akko felt her blood pressure rise every minute she was in the mass. Why couldn’t they all just walk on the right side of the hallway?! The School of Sorcery enforced this policy. Akko briefly wondered if it was worth mentioning to her headmistress before she brushed the thought aside. The financial circumstances this school was in was already worrying enough.

Once the group made it outside it was infinitely easier to move about, with the team being able to at least hit a walking pace. The group made a beeline to the Leyline. Half the school looked like it was already there. They chose to hang on the outskirts. They had been crushed enough for one morning. Akko looked about. Amidst the forest of broomsticks, she could see the faculty. They were standing in front of the Leyline, shooing back any students who got too close. A tap on her shoulder caused Akko to turn around. It was Amanda and her team. Amanda had a grin on her face.

“We’ve been looking for you guys.” She looked around. “Not a bad spot.”

“We got here a few minutes ago.” Lotte said. “What about you three?”

Amanda shrugged. “Eh, took a while. Turns out flying in the hallways isn’t allowed. Finnelan chewed us out for that one.”

Sucy didn't even try to suppress her cackle.

Akko’s jaw was dragging on the ground. “Why would you even try that?!”

“Figured it’d be quicker. And it was for the most part.” Amanda readjusted her broom. “Wasn’t worth the thirty-minute lecture though.”

“Well anyways,” Lotte butted in, “what do you girls think we’re gonna do when we arrive? Nine’s pretty early.”

“Honestly? Haven’t gotta clue.” Amanda said. “Maybe check-in, get the grand old welcome speech, or a tour. Something like that.”

“That sounds nice.” Jasminka said. “Maybe we’ll be able to meet with some of the students today.”

“It’s possible.” Sucy said. “Count me out.”

“Sucy!” Lotte said. “We might never get to meet sorceresses again! You should make the most of it!”

“Don’t talk to me like I’m Akko.”

“Hey!”

Amanda’s laughing pulled the three out of their argument. She was bent over clutching her sides. “You girls are a riot!”

Amanda’s moment was cut short by Constanze. Without any of them noticing Constanze had mounted on her broom and floated up a couple of feet. She tapped on Amanda’s head, causing her to stop laughing and look at Constanze. Constanze pointed towards the Leyline. Both teams directed their attention towards the Leyline. Above the mass of students was Headmistress Holbrooke, wearing the largest smile Akko had ever seen. She waved her wand, mouthing an incantation. Akko could guess what it was, but it didn’t make it any less impactful.

“Hello, once again students of Luna Nova!” Holbrooke’s voice thundered over the students. Akko winced as the voice hit her ears, leaving few in any conversations in its wake. All eyes turned towards the Headmistress.

“It’s currently nine o’clock, and the time you’ve all been waiting for! I hope you’ve all packed well!”

A murmur of various responses rippled throughout the crowd. Holbrooke chuckled.

“Well even if you haven’t, don’t worry. The School of Sorcery will be more than happy to provide you with anything you might have forgotten!” Her expression shifted from her signature smile to a more serious one. “Also, I must remind you all that we will not be on our school grounds. For the next week, we will be guests, and as such I want you all to be on your best behavior, and that means following rules explicitly. Have I made myself clear, dears?”

A murmur of agreement rippled through the students. Amanda gave Akko a nudge and winked. Akko rolled her eyes, and turned her attention back to Holbrooke. The numerous affirmations had made Holbrooke go back to her usual bubbly self.

“Excellent!” She exclaimed. She took out her wand once more. “Then let us waste no time! We will leave momentarily!”

She waved her wand in the air, and cast another incantation, turning her voice back to normal. She flew back to the Leyline where the rest of the faculty was waiting, their wands already drawn. In unison, all of the faculty members pointed their wands at the Leyline. They stood like that for a few minutes, saying… something.

Suddenly, the Leyline began to flash a blinding white. The area around it began to rumble as from the depths of the Leyline, what was once a bright teal color was slowly getting replaced by a sweet sky blue that matched the sky. The color change got closer and closer before it fully engulfed the Leyline, prompting another flash once it finished. Once the Leyline seemed to calm down, the staff dropped their wands and stopped their spell.

“Talk about high security.” Sucy said.

Lotte nodded her head. “It really is.” She said. “It’s incredible.”

Amanda shrugged. “Looks like it. Anyways it looks like everyone’s gearing up. We probably should too.”

Akko looked around. Sure enough, students and faculty alike were one by one mounting their brooms and taking off. Akko quickly hopped onto the back of Sucy’s broom. The girl made no objection, only moving forward slightly to accommodate for her new passenger.

“Alright, see you girls on the other side!” Amanda said. “Tia Freye!”

“See you, Amanda!” Akko said.

“Be quiet, you’ll throw off my balance.” Sucy snarked. “Tia Freye.”

Akko made a face but obliged as Sucy’s broom took off, joining the armada of witches as they slowly flew into the Leyline.

The inside of the Leyline was like a whole other reality. It was cramped for the most part, with there being little to no room to cut around students. Akko could barely move herself into a comfortable position herself.

“Quit moving around.”

Akko pouted and crossed her arms. It wasn’t like she could really move into a comfortable position anyways. Lotte and the others were nowhere to be seen. It was then that it hit Akko that the Leyline was dead silent. Not a single student was speaking. The only sound keeping them all company was the ethereal hum of the Leyline. Not even the wind blowing in her hair had a voice. Akko supposed it made sense. After all, on the other side of the Leyline was their destination.

The end of the Leyline was in sight. Akko could feel her nerves start to act up. Her heart began to beat faster with every second they traveled. She took a deep breath, and focused on the hum of the Leyline.

 _Don’t worry about it, Akko. This is normal._ In a way it was. She was just going back to her real school, to put it simply. She was just coming back through the Leyline after taking a trip to the nearest town.

Of course, the Leyline wasn’t normally blue, nor populated by a school of witches either.

They were almost out of the Leyline now, the exit not being twenty yards away. She could begin to make out the school. Even specific parts of it if she wanted to.

The Leyline began to liven up. Various conversations began to drum up, mostly being quiet for the most part. Various comments on what the students could see of the school were being passed around. Akko smiled weakly to herself. She drew in a breath. It was shaky, jittery, and the exhale was quick, forced.

Looks like she was more nervous than she’d hoped.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

“You can let go now. We’re here.”

Akko nodded as she dismantled from Sucy’s broom. She looked around. The entire school had landed. The conversation from the Leyline had increased tenfold, as all eyes landed on the school. Akko followed suit, her face breaking out into a full grin as she laid her eyes on a sight she hadn’t seen in much too long.

Luna Nova’s School of Sorcery was an awe-inspiring sight. It towered above everything in sight, being at least twice the size of the School of Witchcraft, and was dark in color, boasting black as its primary choice, with gold being sprinkled in here and there. While its colors were vastly different, the structure and overall design ran parallel to the School of Witchcraft, with an identical exterior, and similar designs on the outside of the school. There were several small figures flying around the school in random directions, which Akko immediately recognized to be students, probably on a free period.

Akko was pulled from her thoughts by the ever-growing voices from her peers. The noise level was quickly rising again, most of them asking the same question.

“Who’s that?”

Akko’s eyes followed the student’s fingers. They were all pointing to a tall figure just in front of the school, making their way towards the witches. Akko squinted her eyes. The distance made it impossible to tell who it was.

Holbrooke took notice of the disturbance and traced the fingers toward the destination.

“Ah-ha!” Holbrooke exclaimed. “Our first stop!” She immediately took off towards the figure, prompting the rest of the school to follow. “Come along dears! We don’t want to be late!”

“Someone seems eager.” Sucy said.

Akko nodded her head. “Yeah, she does.” She said. She gave the school - _her_ school a long look. Even with it right in front of her eyes, it was hard to believe she was actually there. A nudge from behind her prompted her to turn around.

“Pretty impressive, yeah?” Amanda. She, Lotte, Constanze and Jasminka had all caught up with them. Amanda was sporting a knowing smirk, her eyes fixed on Akko.

Akko blinked twice, the question catching her completely off guard.“Huh? Oh yeah, it’s great.” Akko replied lamely.

“You know I thought you’d be up in the clouds at this.” Sucy remarked. “Seems like it’s right up your alley.”

“Well, I guess I’m just kind of…” Akko trailed off, fumbling for the right thing to say. “Shocked! Yeah! That’s it! It’s just so incredible that I can’t think of anything to say!”

“You seem to be having no trouble speaking now.”

Akko felt her face burn as she shot Amanda the meanest glare she could muster. What was this, a “Let’s Pick on Akko” session? Amanda only snickered at the reaction.

“So who’s that woman over there?” Lotte’s voice interrupted the banter. Akko, grateful for the distraction, looked up. Lotte was pointing to the figure they had seen earlier waiting in front of a gate. Now that the party was much closer Akko could get a good look at who the figure was.

She was a woman in her mid-thirties. She was wearing a pitch-black robe stretching down to her ankles bespeckled with stars, and was carrying a huge, thick book. Her hair was a light brown and pulled back in a bun, and she had on one of the kindest smiles Akko had ever seen. She recognized the woman immediately.

“Probably the Headmistress.” Amanda said nonchalantly. “Who else would be here to greet us?”

“That’s true.” Lotte said.

“She looks like Finnelan.” Sucy said. Amanda burst out laughing, attracting looks from the nearby students.

“If Finnelan was forty years younger!” Amanda wheezed.

“Girls!” Lotte reprimanded. “Don’t say things like that!” Sucy only shrugged, and Amanda didn’t seem to hear her.

The witches finally arrived in front of the woman. Just as Akko suspected, she was the headmistress. Her eyes were flitting around the witches, taking a long look at her audience, before spreading her arms wide.

“Hello students of Witchcraft Academy!” Her voice thundered over the students, eliciting a jump from them. “My name is Emma Edenshaw! I am the headmistress of this school. I’d like to formally welcome each and every one of you to Luna Nova’s sorcery branch of magical education; Luna Lova’s School of Sorcery!” Headmistress Edenshaw’s eyes fell directly on Akko.

Akko felt her blood turn to ice as she locked eyes with her headmistress. Time seemed to grind to a halt as Edenshaw’s smile faltered, being replaced with a temporary look of shock. Akko watched as Edenshaw’s eyes darted between her and Amanda for what felt like an eternity. She and Amanda glanced at each other nervously, before looking back at Edenshaw.

The headmistress shook her head slightly, forcing a smile back on her face and resuming her speech without missing a beat.

“Before I can allow you to set foot on campus, I must request that you sign your name in this book!” She let go of the book, and it let it float in front of her. “This book is used for attendance purposes only. If you have any questions about this book, please feel free to ask me!”

One by one the witches lined up to sign their name in the book. Conversation began to slowly liven up again, but it was subdued, with students barely going above library voices. Akko joined them. Her thoughts were a mess, having been scattered to the winds the moment she locked eyes with Headmistress Edenshaw.

Her spot in line came almost too quickly. Before she knew it she found herself standing in front of her headmistress. Akko once again met Edenshaw’s gaze. Her expression was unreadable. Akko quickly signed her name and gave her headmistress a small smile.

She placed the pen back on the book before shuffling away with the rest of her peers. She let a huge sigh escape her lips. Just seeing Headmistress Edenshaw for the first time in months was somehow more tiring than the last week altogether.

 _I shoulda just stayed behind._ Whatever punishment they would’ve doled out couldn't have been worse than this. She could’ve just stayed in her dorm sleeping the week off. She knew she needed it.

A jostle on her shoulders snapped her out of her thoughts. It was Amanda, and everyone else.

“What’s up Akko?” Amanda asked.

Akko hesitated, unsure of what to say. Amanda gave her another friendly shake.

“C’mon, don’t be so worried.” She said just loud enough for Akko to hear. “Once we make it to the meetup we’ll be fine.”

Akko sighed. Amanda had a point. At the very least they weren’t going into this completely unprepared. It wouldn’t do her any good to worry about it now.

Akko around. They were well onto campus grounds. A few of the students had stopped doing what they were doing and closed in on the witches. The School of Sorcery’s faculty was gathering around too. Akko recognized several of them immediately.

The group stopped just in front of the faculty and Holbrooke launched into a speech, but Akko wasn’t paying attention. Her heart was going a million miles an hour. She looked around at her friends. They were all listening with rapt attention. Amanda was listening too, although she looked more amused than anything.

Amanda caught Akko’s gaze and gave Akko a thumbs up. Akko heaved a heavy sigh.

This was going to be a long week.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So first thing's first. I'm sorry this took so long to get out. It's been what, a month since the last chapter? I at least owe you all an explanation for what happened. Essentially I landed myself a temporary job for some extra money to spend. The problem is is that I'm also a college student and juggling both of these really cuts down on my free time, but I still wrote a bit of this every day and edited it when I could, for that it's worth.
> 
> Unfortunately, I'm not sure if this fic will ever resume its usual upload cycle, as due to recent developments a friend will be crashing at my place for the foreseeable future since his college kicked him out.
> 
> That being the case, and despite these delays, I'd like to extend my promise I made to myself to all of you. I will not drop this fic. This has been kicking around in my head for so long I refuse to leave it unfinished. That wouldn't be fair to anyone.
> 
> Thanks so much for taking the time to read this. Please stay safe and have a good one.  
> -femikol


	5. First Struggles

Atsuko Kagari had never wanted to hide from her friends. Atsuko Kagari had never wanted to hide from her friends at school. Atsuko Kagari had never at any point in her life wanted to be anywhere but surrounded by her friends at the school she had dreamed of getting into ever since she was a kid.

Atsuko Kagari had never wanted any of these things until today.

Her eyes flitted around wildly, watching the sorceresses getting closer and closer.

“Are these the witches?”

“Oh yeah, I heard it was today.”

“They’re here for a week, right?”

Akko grabbed the brim of her hat, pulling it down as far as it could possibly go and directed her head towards the ground. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Amanda doing the same.

“Students of Witchcraft Academy, may I have your attention please?” It was Edenshaw’s voice. Akko barely moved her head up, just enough to see the headmistress. She was standing alongside several older women all looking out over the witches. All of them had smiles on their faces. “It is wonderful to have you all here at this school! I look forward to this next week with you all, but first!” She gestured to the students. “Please split up into your team colors!”

There was a general shuffle as the students adjusted themselves. Akko split off into her group and Amanda into hers, but they kept close.

“Excellent!” Edenshaw said. “Now please find two other teams! I suggest you choose wisely because they’ll be your primary partners for the next week!”

The teams grouped together so fast Akko and Amanda barely had time to assimilate their teams before everyone else was taken. The six girls looked around, unable to spot anyone else.

“Are there any teams who aren’t in a group of nine?”

Akko and Amanda raised their hands.

“Perfect!” Edenshaw said. “You three in the back! Please find your way to these girls up front!”

Akko turned around. She didn’t bother suppressing the groan that escaped her.

_Of course it’s them._

Diana, Hannah, and Barbara were making their way through the crowd. Diana looked unfazed by the situation, whereas Hannah and Barbara were both sporting looks caught between a leer and complete disgust.

“Great.” Sucy said.

Lotte elbowed her. “Don’t be like that.”

If Diana had heard anything, she didn’t mention it as the blue team joined sided up next to them.

Edenshaw clapped her hands. “Is that everyone? Excellent. Now, a few things before we begin your week!” She gestured to the women next to her. “These fine women are some of the faculty at this school! You will be seeing them throughout your time here and I suggest you get to know them! They are wonderful people!”

Edenshaw stepped back, allowing a different woman to take her place. She was considerably smaller, about half her height. She wore huge rectangular glasses, and her golden hair was long enough to touch the ground.

“Thank you very much, Headmistress Edenshaw.” The woman’s voice came out in a croak. “You do know to make this old woman smile.” She pulled out a scroll from inside her robe. “Good morning, young ones.” She said, smiling. “My name is Professor Willow. I teach Magical History at this academy and am assistant to the Headmistress. I’d like to go over a few opportunities with you all before you start your day here today.” She unfurled the scroll and glanced over it. Her smile grew even bigger and she turned back to the witches. “The first thing I’d like to tell you about is our recruitment program!”

A confused murmur swept through the crowd.

“Recruitment program?”

“For here?!”

“Beats me.”

Akko felt her heart skip a beat as she looked at her groupmates. Diana was giving Professor Willow her undivided attention. A hand was on her chin and her eyes were sparkling with interest. Hannah and Barbara were looking at Diana, each sporting looks of hope and at the same time; worry. Constanze and Jasminka didn’t seem particularly invested in the topic, and Sucy looked disinterested altogether. Lotte, on the other hand, was looking directly at Akko, a questioning look on her face. Akko gulped and directed her attention back towards Professor Willow, who waved her arms, grabbing the crowd’s attention again.

“I’m glad you’re all so excited children, but please allow me to elaborate.” She reached into her robes again and pulled out a stack of papers. “These are applications.” She said. She let go of them and the stack split apart, individual papers flying to every student in the crowd, Akko and Amanda included. “These applications will allow you to apply to this school. We encourage everyone to apply, whether or not you believe you’ll pass. After all, what harm is there in simply trying?”

Akko numbly took her application. She wasn’t sure if Lotte was looking at her, and she didn’t want to know.

“Gonna try out, Cavendish?” Amanda’s voice cut into Akko’s thoughts. “You’d probably make it.”

Akko glanced at Diana. She didn’t seem to have heard the remark. Her eyes were fixed on her application. Hannah’s and Barbara’s expressions had gone from a mix of emotions to full-on concern, their eyes flitting from Diana and her application, to each other. 

“Truth be told, the application is more of a formality at most.” Professor Willow said. “We accept any and all applications. The tryouts are where it actually counts.”

“Sounds like a sport.” Sucy said.

“Now I won’t bore you with too much detail children, but these tryouts measure your ‘aptitude’ if you will, and we always give you feedback on where you could improve.” She chuckled. “And of course you’re always welcome to try again, should you not cut it.”

A murmur swept through the students as Professor Willow finished speaking. She stepped back, allowing Edenshaw to take the foreground once again.

“Thank you, Professor Willow, for that information!” She smiled. “I believe it will prove useful to these students in the days to come. Now,” she clapped her hands. “I believe it’s time to start your week!” She beckoned to the students. “Now, follow me! We will begin the campus tour! It is imperative that you know where everything is before your studies begin!”

Headmistress Edenshaw twirled around and began to make her way toward the campus. The witches were quick to follow suit.

Akko fiddled with her hat as she followed her peers. Each and every step she took put her more and more on edge. She had caught Lotte glancing at her a few times. She knew Lotte had questions for her, she absolutely knew it. She snuck a quick glance at Lotte. Her expression was for the most part unreadable. Her eyes were far off now, lost in her own thoughts. Glancing past, Akko saw Diana. She still had the application in her hand. A scowl crept onto Akko’s face. Familiar thoughts of dread that Diana would apply entered her mind. The idea that this high and mighty witch could follow her back to this school, ugh! Akko shuddered.

_I bet she’d just come in unannounced and immediately start getting on my case about whatever she could pull out of her-._

“Atsuko?”

Time itself seemed to grind to a halt. Akko whirled around. That voice hadn’t come from a witch.

A sorceress was standing just a few feet away from her. She stood about as tall as Akko and had long blond hair knitted in a braid. Her brown eyes were flitting wildly between her and Amanda.

“What’re you doing here?”

Akko’s mind was running wild. She had to think of something fast! “René!” Akko said. Okay, she had a foothold in the conversation. That was a start. “I didn’t realize you went to school here, haha! What’re the odds?” Her heart was racing. It wasn’t particularly elegant but it would have to suffice. With any luck, René would get the hint.

René gave Akko a perplexed look.

_Curses!_

“Akko, what’re you talking abou-?”

Amanda stepped forward ever so slightly, cupping her mouth and coughing into it, before pressing her finger to her lips. René’s eye’s widened slightly, before she backed away.

“Sorry! Bad time.” She waved slightly to the pair, giving them a sheepish smile. “We can catch up later!” She called back before turning around and running off.

If Akko’s heartbeat any more forcefully, she could swear it would pop out of her chest. That was close, way too close. At this rate she and Amanda would be busted before they even got to the Meetup! She sighed and turned back to the group of witches.

Everyone was staring at her. Most students, including Lotte, had questioning looks on their faces. Sucy and Diana were both staring wide-eyed at her.

“Who was that?”

“Does Akko know that girl?”

“Atsuko Kagari knows a _sorceress_?”

Akko was immobilized, every fiber of her body telling her to run, to fly, to get away! But at the same time she knew she could salvage this. It was still possible! She just… didn’t know how.

“Geez, Akko!” An arm flung itself around her shoulder, shaking her with all of its might. Akko looked up, it was Amanda, with a big grin on her face, flashing her a wink. “You never told us you knew a sorceress! What’s the big idea, huh?”

“Uhhh…” In the absence of fright Akko’s mind had gone fully numb. She looked at Edenshaw, silently pleading for her to step in.

The Headmistress seemed to get the hint, cracking a small smile. “It’s a small world isn’t it?” Her voice grabbed the attention of the witches. “But unfortunately, I must ask you to save your story for this evening. There is a lot to do today, but I promise you there will be time later to share.” She waved her hand. “Now come along, students! Our first destination is just up ahead!”

“I think you owe us an explanation.” Sucy said once the group started moving again. Akko gulped and looked at Sucy. The girl was sporting her usual toothy leer. “You know a sorceress, and you _still_ can’t fly?”

“W-well, yeah.” Akko said, looking anywhere but at Sucy. “I didn’t really know she was a sorceress until today.”

“... Are you serious?”

“Uhhh… yeah?”

Akko breathed a sigh of relief as Sucy made no effort to suppress her laughter. A nudge to her arm caught attention. It was Amanda. She gave Akko a wink and a small thumbs up. Akko returned the gesture with a smile. As much as she’d rather have avoided it in the first place, it felt good to have deflected the potential crisis René was about to cause.

_Still though…_

One chance encounter was one too many. She and Amanda had to get to the Meetup ASAP.

“Alright, students!” Edenshaw said. “This is the first stop of the tour; the Cafeteria! You’ll all be visiting this place regularly so I suggest you memorize its location!”

= = = = = = = = =

“Ughhhh…” Akko moaned. “Today was exhausting.”

The red, green and blue teams were getting situated in their dorm room. Their “dorm room” was actually just a repurposed classroom, being complete with an absurdly large door and a blackboard on the far end. It even still had desks, although there were only nine of them lined up side by side. As a trade off, the room had received three triple decker bunk beds, each one packing a fairly sizable waste bin. Akko wasted no time in making her way towards hers, kicking off her shoes and stuffing them underneath her bed.

“What?” Amanda asked. “You didn’t have fun today?”

Akko rolled her eyes and flopped onto her bed.

The tour hadn’t been anything special. If anything it had been the most boring part of the day; constantly getting pulled around, going from classroom to classroom like she was new to the school all over again. Occasionally she saw a face she recognized and had to make herself as obscure as possible, but it was far from fun.

At least the meals were still good.

“I for one, agree with Kagari.” Diana said. “Today’s events have been… unexpectedly taxing, I suppose.”

“No one asked you.” Akko muttered into her pillow.

“At least have the decency to change out of your uniform before you nod off.” Sucy’s voice cut in. “Also you have some explaining to do.”

“Oh, that’s right.” Diana said. “I almost forgot. I did not expect someone of your… standing to know a sorceress, Akko.”

Akko didn’t try to suppress the glare she gave Diana as she got up and opened her bag. She fished around in it for a moment, pulling out her nightgown.

“Fine, I’ll tell you.” Akko grumbled as she began to change. “It’s not all that exciting though.”

“Don’t worry about it, Akko.” Jasminka said. “We’d all love to hear about it, I promise.”

“Okay...” Akko said. She pulled her nightgown over her and sat on her bed. “We… were neighbors when we were kids.” Akko began. “We were the only kids on the block too, so we only had each other to play with. She never did any magic around me, I guess her parents told her not to. Anyway one day she moved and I never saw her again - until today of course.”

The room was silent for a moment.

Sucy blinked. “That’s it?”

Akko smiled sheepishly. “Yeah, I told you girls it wasn’t exciting.” Her gaze wandered over to Amanda, who was lying on her bed. She gave Akko a quizzical expression. Akko shrugged. It wasn’t like she had much material to work with. Akko turned her attention back to the other girls. “I wanna catch up with her though! It’s been ages!”

“You could probably find her at breakfast tomorrow!” Jasminka said.

Akko nodded. That’d certainly be nice. Ideally though it’d be in an hour or so.

“Speaking of,” Amanda chimed in, “what say you girls we get some sleep? I’d rather not be tired tomorrow.”

“How uncharacteristically smart of you, O'Neil.” Hannah said. Barbara snickered.

Amanda rolled her eyes. “Whatever.” She rolled over on her side. “G’night, girls.”

“G’night!” Akko called back. She closed her eyes, listening to the other girls bidding each other goodnight. All she had to do was wait for everyone to fall asleep, then she and Amanda could hightail it to the library without any suspicion! All she had to do herself was not fall asleep!

Easy, right?

= = = = = = = = = 

“Psst! Akko!” A hushed voice called out.

Akko felt herself being lightly shaken. Who was that? And why were they intruding on her beauty sleep?

“Akko, wake up! Everyone’s asleep!” The voice said, louder this time.

Everyone’s asleep? Should they not be asleep?

“C’mon, Akko, get up!” The voice was getting even louder. There was even a twinge of annoyance to it. “Do I have to drag you to the Meetup or not?”

The Meetup? But she wasn’t…

_Wait a minute!_

Akko bolted upright. The Meetup! Of course! How did she forget?!

“Woah! Easy!”

Akko looked toward the source of the voice. It was Amanda, kneeling down next to her bed. “Took you long enough.” She said, smiling. “You ready?”

Akko nodded. She quickly slipped from her bed, and reached under it, grabbing her shoes and slipping them on. She double-checked her backpack before hoisting it onto her shoulder and tip-toeing towards Amanda, who was already at the door.

“Ready?” Amanda asked.

Akko nodded. “M-hm!”

Amanda grinned before pushing open the door. She gave Akko a little bow. “Ladies first.”

Akko stuck her tongue at Amanda before stepping through. Amanda chuckled, quickly giving the room one last scan before closing the door.

“Alright.” Amanda said. Her voice returned to its normal level. “You remember where the Library is?”

“Of course!” Akko replied. “First floor! As if I could forget.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time.”

“Hey!”

Amanda laughed at Akko’s response, clutching her gut and doubling over. Akko tried to keep her annoyed look, but eventually a smile worked its way onto her face. Eventually she too started laughing, relinquishing all potential worries and risks as her friend’s antics swept her out of the moment. A spring entered her step as she thought of how far they’d made it. The hardest part of this trip was over now. It was just smooth sailing from here.

“So,” Amanda said, “Souvenirs?” She gestured to Akko’s backpack.

Akko nodded. “Yep!” She said. “I figured the girls would be interested.”

“You would, wouldn’t you?”

Akko rolled her eyes.

“So, what’d ya bring?”

“In here?” Akko gestured to her backpack. “Uhhh, let’s see…” She paused, putting a hand on her chin. “I know I brought a few spare uniforms.”

Amanda raised an eyebrow. “A few spare uniforms? Isn’t one pricey enough?”

“Well, yeah, but they’re gifts, so it doesn’t count.”

Amanda shrugged. “If you wanna look at it that way I guess.”

“Hey! Just what are you trying to say?!”

“Nothing.” Amanda said, ignoring the daggers Akko was sending her. “Anyways, check it out.” She pointed down the hall. “Looks like we’re here.”

Akko looked down the hall. Sure enough, a few yards away was a large wooden door. It was fairly simplistic, with no intricate design on it and a silver handle protruding from it. The two girls came to a stop in front of it. They could hear some voices from just beyond it.

Amanda put her hand on the door. “Alright, Akko.” She was grinning from ear to ear. “Time for our grand re-entrance.”

Before Akko had a chance to speak, Amanda pushed open the door. The door groaned loudly, opening with a rush of air - and a rush of voices.

“After you.” Amanda said.

Akko smiled, and stepped into the library.

Inside was like a whole other world. The library that was so sparse during the tour was almost unrecognizable. Everywhere there was to look were sorceresses. There were sorceresses at desks, sorceresses leaning against bookshelves and even sorceresses floating about, studying, socializing, or helping out. There were even a few casting spells in a corner of the room. It looked so peaceful, so nice, so… right.

A rush of air hit Akko from behind as Amanda let the door close.

It wasn’t long before the first head turned. It was a girl with short red hair and large rectangular glasses. She was standing over another student pointing at an open book. As soon as she saw them, her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.

“O’Neil?” She asked.

More heads turned.

“Kagari?”

The noise quickly began to die out. More and more students were turning their heads and stopping what they were doing. Before long the library was as silent as a graveyard.

“Hey, Trish.” Amanda said, giving the red-haired girl a wave. “We aren’t interrupting anything, are we?”

In an instant, the library went from completely silent to a deafening roar as students began to flock all at once towards the two girls.

“Atsuko and Amanda?”

“Wait, really?”

“O’Neil and Kagari are back?!”

Akko yelped as she was tackled from all sides by her peers. She stumbled a few times but thankfully kept her balance. There wasn’t much she could pick out from the voices, and despite the aggressive treatment she broke out in the biggest smile she’d ever worn. One of the girls even took off her student robe, flinging it over Akko’s shoulders. Akko felt a laugh bubble up from within her, bursting out of her without any control.

Finally, she was home.

= = = = = = = = = = 

Nothing could have prepared Amanda for the welcome back she and Akko received. Sure, they were friends with most of the girls at the Meetup, having regularly attended and assisted since their first year here, but she wasn’t prepared to be tackled by over twenty girls at once.

Eh, they hadn’t seen them in months. She’d probably react the same way.

“Easy girls, geez.” She said. “You all missed us or somethin’?”

A ripple of laughter swept through the crowd.

“Of course we did!” Trish said. She broke away from the hug and gave Amanda a playful noogie. “Why wouldn’t we?”

Amanda shrugged. There were probably a few reasons out there, not that she could think of any at the moment.

“So anyway, how’s Witchcraft Academy?” Trish asked.

Amanda shrugged again. “It’s alright, I suppose. Not too interesting.”

Trish looked unimpressed by the short answer. “Oh, c’mon Amanda, there’s more to it than that!”

“Yeah, c’mon!” A girl said from the crowd. “Give us the details!”

“Yeah, what’s living alongside witches like? What do they do?” Another girl asked.

“Have you got anything from there to show us?” A third asked.

A few more questions were fired off, but Amanda quickly waved a hand, cutting them off.

“How about we take this to a table?” She asked. “I don’t wanna be standing all night.”

The sorceresses obliged, guiding the two girls to a table situated in a far corner of the library. Once there, Amanda slipped into her seat, leaning her back into the wall. Akko slipped her pack off her shoulders, wordlessly floating it underneath the table. Amanda couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Wow, Akko. First day back and you’re already using your magic? Seriously?”

“Wha?! Of course I am!” Akko sputtered. Her face grew red and she turned away from Amanda, folding her arms. “I haven’t used it properly in months! I’m surprised you haven’t used it already!”

Amanda smirked. “That’s because one of us actually used magic while she was there.”

“So,” Trish’s voice cut in, grabbing the girls’ attention. “What’s it like over there?”

“Lemme guess, you want the story from the beginning?” Amanda asked. Her heart sank as she watched everyone eagerly nod their heads. “Okay I guess. Don’t say I didn’t warn you though.

= = = = = = = = = = 

“And that’s about that. Amanda said. “Again, there wasn’t much to tell.”

“Well, the dragon story was pretty funny.” One girl said after a moment, chuckling. “Although it’s pretty concerning that the school was in debt to a dragon.”

“Yeah, well remember that they weren't.” Amanda said. “It’s because none of the staff could actually read the contract.”

The crowd exchanged concerned looks.

“There are so many things wrong about that.”

“Yeah.” Another girl said. “Are you gonna tell the Headmistress?”

“Yeah, we will.” Amanda said. “Sometime this week.”

“Are you sure there wasn’t anything else exciting?” A third girl asked. “Witchcraft Academy had its Samhain Magic Festival a few weeks ago, right?”

“ _That_ thing?” Akko snorted.

Amanda didn’t try to hold back her laugh.

The girl looked perplexed. “What do you mean?” She asked. “I thought it was some big event for witches.”

“Well, yeah, it is.” Akko said, leaning back against the wall. “But it was so _boring_!”

“Hey, to be fair, your team were the sacrifices.” Amanda said.

Akko gave her a withering look. “Shut up.”

“Hah!”

“Sacrifice?” Some of the students exchanged looks. “What sacrifice?”

“Oh yeah.” Akko rolled her eyes. “At the end of the festival, some mopey spirit devours one of the teams and spits ‘em back out.” Akko shuddered. “It’s really gross.”

“Akko here tried to make the spirit laugh.” Amanda said. “It didn’t work.”

“Yeah, and it just devoured me without thinking twice.” Akko said, scowling. She pulled the robe further over her shoulders. “It was cramped, and slimy, and gross! At least it was quick.”

The crowd went quiet.

“Wow.” One girl said after a few moments. “That sounds kinda terrible.”

Akko huffed. “It was!” Her expression softened. “Though, I think a lot of it was because it was so... stuffy, I guess.”

“Yeah, it was.” Amanda said. She chuckled. “Turns out witches can be pretty traditional. They even got some old hags from all over the world to judge it too!”

“ _Anyways_.” Akko cut in. She levitated her backpack onto the table, breaking out in a grin. “I brought souvenirs!”

A few cheers echoed throughout the crowd as Akko unzipped the backpack. She pulled out a uniform - a ceremonial one. She presented it to Trish.

“Here you go, Trish!” She said. “Still vacuum sealed! I have one for René too!” She looked around. “Speaking of, where is René? I thought she’d be here.”

Trish beamed as she took the gift. “Thank you, Akko!” She said. “René’s in her dorm right now. She’s got a huge project she’s working on that needs to be due tomorrow. She kinda put it off.”

Amanda laughed. “Darn, and we were looking forward to catching up with her too.” She shrugged. “Oh well, we’ll see her later.”

Akko nodded, reaching into her bag and pulling a few more items out. “Anyway, I have more gifts!” She sang.

The next hour or so was mostly dominated by Akko. Amanda watched as she reached into her bag every few seconds and pulled a new item out (that item usually something from the school store or from Blytonbury), and give a brief explanation about it before handing it to another student. Occasionally Amanda would punctuate the pattern with a remark or a joke, each time getting a rise out of Akko. Otherwise Amanda opted to sit back and stay silent. She closed her eyes and let the atmosphere wash over her.

_This is nice._

“Oh, I guess that’s it for souvenirs.” Akko said after a while, her voice pulling Amanda back into reality. “Sorry, girls.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it!” One of them said. “We’re just glad you’re back, y’know?”

Amanda’s eyes fell on a clock. It was going on twelve. Now was probably a good time to call it quits for the night.” She stood up.

“Alright girls. I think it’s late enough.” She said She gave Akko’s shoulder a friendly shake. “Besides, Akko and I have gotta get goin’. We’ve got a big day tomorrow.”

A collective groan swept through the crowd.

Amanda chuckled. “Hey, we’ll be back tomorrow. Don’t take it too badly.”

Akko gave the school robe back to the girl who put it on her, and the two made their way through the crowd with relative ease. Just as Amanda was about to open the door she spun around.

“Oh right, one last thing girls.” She said. “We need a favor.”

The sorceresses looked quizzically at her.

“Sure.”

“What with?”

Amanda put a hand on the door. “We need you girls to spread the word that Akko and I are back - preferably by tomorrow morning.” She said. “Also, make sure they don’t talk to us during the day. School of Witchcraft would flip if it found out about us, y’know? Think you could help with that?”

A wave of nods swept through the crowd.

Amanda smiled. “Great, thanks girls. See you all tomorrow.” She pushed open the door, letting Akko pass through. She gave a final wave the door slammed shut, before joining back up with Akko.

“You look like you had fun.” She said.

Akko nodded “M-hm!” She said. “I’m glad we got to meet up with the girls again! It looks like your plan worked!”

Amanda chuckled. “I suppose.” A thought came to her.

_Hold on._

She stopped walking. “I just hope we weren’t missed.”

Akko turned around and looked at her friend. “Hmm?”

Amanda didn’t respond. She put a hand on her chin. There was a problem with these ‘nightly excursions’ for lack of a better term. If any of the girls noticed their absence they were bound to ask about it the next day. If that happened then Amanda could only hope she’d be able to craft some sort of alibi, not that there was much she could work with. She shook her head. As much as she didn’t like it, they wouldn’t be able to make it to all of the meetups. At most maybe this next one and then one more. Venturing out after hours was enough of a risk already, and she didn’t want to be the one responsible for busting them.

“I don’t think we can do this every night, Akko.”

“Huh?” Akko cocked her head. “Why not?”

Amanda sighed. “Think about it. What if someone wakes up while we’re gone?”

Akko’s eyes widened as the implications sunk in.

“Oh…”

“Yeah. ‘Oh’”. Amanda said. “I think we should do only one more after tomorrow. Not sure when, but just one more to be safe.”

“But-!” Akko puffed out her cheeks, glaring at Amanda. “That’s not fair!”

Amanda shrugged. “I agree, but what can we do? Sure if we’re caught we might get off easier ‘cause of the timing, but I’d rather not get busted in the first place.”

Akko sputtered for a few moments before deflating. “Fine.” She hung her head, turning around and walking away. “But I still don't like it!”

Amanda put up her hands. “Hey, I don’t like it either, but it’s better this way.”

Amanda’s thoughts began to churn as she caught up with Akko. Sure, getting caught would suck, and the punishments they’d receive would probably be harsh, but that wasn’t her big worry.

Her real worry was if her friends found out.

Sure, she’d only known Constanze and Jasminka for about a third of the school year at most, and she wasn’t nearly as close to them as she was with some of the other girls at the School of Sorcery. But at the same time, they were her friends, and she didn’t want to lose them over this.

After a long walk back, they arrived at their room. Amanda wordlessly pulled open the door letting Akko slip through. Quietly closing it, she quickly made her way across to her bed and climbed into it. She laid back in her bed and tried to let her mind wander, but it kept coming back to the prospect of working through the next week. Sure the hardest part was over and done with, and it would be up to the girls to pull off the rest, but that didn’t make the ice they were walking on any thicker. Now that they were back at their school the number of things that could out them had only grown, something that she wasn’t sure Akko fully understood. Amanda sighed and shook her head.

She and Akko had done their parts. All they could do now was play it by ear and hope for the best.


	6. Day One

René found mornings to be a tolerable time in her day.

That wasn’t to say that she particularly enjoyed mornings, far from it. In fact, she couldn’t even say in good confidence that she liked them at all. Still, she never found herself in a groggy mess whenever she woke up. 

René pushed back the covers and looked over at the empty bed across from her’s. It was funny, knowing that her roommate was in the school. She hadn’t been, not for months, but she was back now. It’d be nice to have her spend the night back here. They could pass the time talking, or playing a game.

_Or she’d just help me with my work like she always did._

René chuckled. Akko spending the night back here probably wasn’t possible, but maybe she could go see her tonight at the Meetup. It’d certainly be nice to talk to her again. Well, more so than she did yesterday. René swung her legs off her bed and stood up. She wasted no time in getting dressed, quickly pulling off her nightgown and changing into her school robes.

As she was finishing there was the sound of tapping at her door. She looked up.

“Yeah?”

Her only response was the sight of a note sliding underneath her door.

_Huh?_

René stooped down and picked up the note. It wasn’t too big, maybe about as big as a notecard but no more. The writing on it was pretty tiny. Obnoxiously tiny given the card’s size. René frowned, but she squinted her eyes and began to read.

_PSA FROM THE SCHOOL OF SORCERY’S STUDENT BODY:_

_Good morning fellow peers! This is a PSA from the students who attended the Meetup last night! We’d like to let you all know that two of our students who have temporarily transferred out - Atsuko Kagari and Amanda O’Neil - are back in the school for a week! They’ve asked us all to kindly not talk to them while in the presence of witches for the sake of secrecy. We would like you to kindly respect their wishes and please only approach them after hours! They will be attending the Meetup tonight if you missed them! Thank you for reading!  
-Trish_

René chuckled.

Don’t disturb them, huh?

She folded the note and moved over to her desk, making sure to tuck it safely into a drawer before grabbing her books she needed for the day. She headed back towards the door, a smile stretching across her face as she grabbed the handle of the door and pulled it open.

Eh, sounds easy enough.

= = = = = = = = = =

Atsuko Kagari wasn’t having the best of mornings.

Due to her and Amanda turning in for the night much later than she was used to, she found herself being woken up by force. However, something seemed rather odd about the person waking her.

“Hey, Akko. Time to get up.”

It was Amanda. Akko groaned and rolled over away from her. Surely a few more minutes couldn’t hurt.

“Akko, seriously, it’s morning.” Amanda began to shake her bed.

Akko made an attempt to bat her away to no success. If anything it only made Amanda shake the bed harder.

“Akko, c’mon. We don’t have all day.”

Akko groaned, finally giving in and sitting upright in her bed. She gave Amanda the fiercest glare she could muster, which judging by Amanda’s smile wasn’t all that impressive.

“Mornin’, Akko.” Amanda said.

Akko groaned and flopped back onto her bed. “Leave me alone.”

“I’m afraid we can’t do that, Kagari.” Diana’s voice cut in. “It would be in our best interests to make our way to the dining hall as soon as possible.”

Akko begrudgingly obliged, not in the mood to pick a fight with Diana. She dragged herself out of her bed and fished underneath her bed for her backpack, pulling out her uniform, and slipping into it before joining the eight other girls at the door.

“Ready.” She mumbled.

Diana nodded. “Excellent, then let’s be on our way.”

The hallway outside the room wasn’t particularly busy. In fact, it was less populated than the breakfast rush at the School of Witchcraft (though that might’ve been courtesy of the massive hallways). There weren’t many sorceresses in sight, save for those scurrying down the flights of stairs toward the cafeteria. Akko quickly bowed her head, doing her best to hide her face.

“So…” Lotte said. The group began to make their way towards the cafeteria. “We’re really here, huh?”

“We were ‘really here’ yesterday, genius.” Hannah snapped, ignoring the icy looks from the green and red teams.

Lotte recoiled slightly. “W-well yeah, but this is our first full day. What are we gonna do here?”

“Beats me.” Amanda said. “Probably just some school stuff. The teachers never take us on trips for fun.”

“I imagine that we’ll find out at breakfast.” Diana said. “I see no use in asking about it now.”

“Jeez.” Amanda said. “Someone’s a killjoy.”

Diana whirled around and Akko could swear she felt the temperature in the room drop. “I do not associate myself with mindless speculation O’Neil. Particularly if I don’t have to.” She turned back around and quickened her pace. “Now if you’d please, we’re almost there.”

Amanda rolled her eyes but said nothing.

Sure enough, the group arrived just outside the cafeteria’s entrance not too long after. The door was much larger than the School of Witchcraft’s door, but just as simply designed as the Library’s. There were several sorceresses going both in and out of the cafeteria. Akko kept her head bowed as the group entered.

Despite what the door would imply, the interior of the cafeteria was identical to its witching counterpart, matching it one for one in every aspect, and was relatively loud. Not as loud as it had been in the witch’s cafeteria the past few days but still noticeable. The nine quickly grabbed their trays and loaded them up with food.

“Wanna head upstairs?” Amanda asked. “There are too many people here.”

Akko braved a quick glance around the cafeteria. Most if not all of the tables were packed, either by witches, sorceresses, or even both, albeit very rarely.

One of the sorceresses glanced up and locked eyes with Akko.

The girl’s eyes widened and she nudged her friend, pointing to Akko. Akko’s heart picked up the pace as she tore her gaze away from the girl and back to her group.

“Yeah,” Akko said. “I wanna go upstairs.”

“Very well.” Diana said. “Any objections?”

No one said anything.

“Then let’s go.”

The group quickly made for the stairs to the second floor, bobbing and weaving through the crows. Akko’s heart wouldn’t stop racing. Every time they passed someone she could feel their eyes lock onto her and Amanda, watching as they climbed up the steps to the second floor.

“This looks good.” Amanda said.

Akko snapped back to reality. The other eight were taking their places near a corner of the balcony. Akko sat on the side opposite the railing next to Amanda, making herself as small as she could. She quickly began to dive into her food, hoping that it would distract her from her thoughts.

If only she could’ve still worn her ceremonial hat.

= = = = = = = = = 

Diana Cavendish was no stranger to stares.

It wasn’t anything unusual to her. In fact, it was quite common. She knew she had many things her peers - and even her elders didn’t. She was the heiress to the Cavendish Manor. She was one of, if not the best witch at Luna Nova’s School of Witchcraft. Her family name alone was well known throughout the witching community and had been for generations. Diana Cavendish had been to enough parties and had been at the School of Witchcraft long enough to know when she was getting stared at.

Which was why she was more confused than she had ever been.

No sooner had her group begun ascending the steps to the upper level of the cafeteria Diana had noticed more than a few pairs of eyes following her group. It was quite perplexing. Diana didn’t know much about sorceresses herself, but she could make an educated guess. The brunt of Diana’s family name lied in their magical aptitude - something that simply couldn’t stand up to a sorceress. If anything Diana was the one who should be gawking at them, not the other way around.

The group sat down in a corner of the balcony, with Akko and Amanda opting to sit together on the opposite side of the railing. A conversation began to strike up, but Diana wasn’t paying too much attention. Her eyes were fixed on Atsuko, watching as the girl tore into her meal.

Atsuko.

Such an interesting girl. A girl with no magical background, causing trouble all over school, come to find that she knows a sorceress? Granted form the sounds of it they likely hadn’t spoken in years, but even then it was quite remarkable.

_Actually…_

Diana’s eyes widened slightly. This could be an opportunity for her family. Should Atsuko still be on good terms with this girl - and it sounded like it, perhaps she could introduce her. No doubt it would only prove a boon for her family name. Granted Atsuko and her weren’t exactly on best of terms, but would she be so spiteful as to begrudge her an introduction?

_I would also be able to find out just how far the Cavendish name spreads._

Diana shook herself from her thoughts. Now was not the time nor the place to indulge in these thoughts. This was breakfast and she was with the other teams - presumably for the rest of the day. The least she could do was act sociable. She began to eat her food as she tuned into the conversation around her.

“So, did you find any rare ingredients, Sucy?” Amanda asked.

“Yeah. Dunno how I’ll take them.” Sucy replied.

_Take them? Is she implying…_

“I do hope you don’t plan on stealing from this school, Manbavaran.” Diana said. “We represent the school while we are here. Anything we do will reflect back on Witchcraft Academy.”

Sucy shrugged. “Doesn’t matter to me.” She said.

Diana’s hands began to tremble. “I suspect that it will, Manbavaran. Should the school see fit to discharge you, it will severely injure your chances of finding a job in the magical world.”

“Hey!” Atsuko glared at Diana. “Sucy would never get expelled for something like that! That’d be silly!”

Diana raised an eyebrow. “Theft is not a ‘silly’ matter, Kagari. Students have been expelled for less.”

Atsuko kept up her glare for a moment longer before turning back to her food.

Diana sighed and set aside her food tray. This wasn’t the group for her. She turned her head and looked past the railings down to the first floor, watching the students mill about, either entering or exiting the cafeteria.

Of all the groups and she got paired with them? It wasn’t particularly surprising given her track record, but still…

Was just once too much to ask?

The front door of the cafeteria opened, catching Diana’s eye. It was Headmistress Edenshaw. She was making her way to the forefront of the cafeteria and was carrying what appeared to be a sheet of paper in one hand. Diana turned her attention back to her group. They were still enwrapped in conversation. Well, mostly Atsuko’s and Amanda’s team. Hannah and Barbara were still talking together.

Diana cleared her throat, cutting them off.

“Pardon me, girls.” She said, ignoring the venomous look Atsuko was sending her She gestured towards the first floor. “The Headmistress has arrived. I believe we should all listen.”

Fortunately, the two teams didn’t seem to have a problem with her suggestion. Everyone stood up and leaned over the railing, though Amanda and Akko stayed near the wall.

By the time Headmistress Edenshaw made her way to the front of the cafeteria, the sorceresses had all gone quiet. A few nudged their neighboring witches, shushing them and pointing towards the Headmistress. It wasn’t long before the venue was completely silent. Diana watched as Headmistress Edenshaw turned to face the sea of students, and spread her arms wide.

“Hello, everyone!” Edenshaw’s voice reverberated throughout the room. “Hello, and good morning! I hope the night treated you well!”

There was a general murmur of response, students were nodding or shaking their heads. Edenshaw chuckled, waiting for the responses to die down before resuming.

“First and foremost, I would like my home students to join me in welcoming our guests to their first full day at this academy!”

Edenshaw paused and began to clap, with the rest of the sorceresses joining her not too long after. It continued for a few moments before Edenshaw cut them off.

“Thank you! Now, to business!” She let go of her paper and let it float in front of her. “I would like to briefly touch on the schedule for the next week! For the witches, we have prepared specialized classes for you all to attend! They will be taught in tandem with our regular classes and in the same classroom as them! The goal of these classes will be to teach you more about our side of the magical world! And while you’re here, we hope to learn more about yours! As for my sorceresses, you should find your schedule to be mostly unchanged! Our present company should prove to be little to no consequence to your academic life!”

Edenshaw waved a hand, and the paper flipped over.

“All of my sorceresses are free to leave! You may make your way to your classes if you so desire!”

There was a general rumble as most of the sorceresses stood up and filed out of the cafeteria. Edenshaw waited patiently for them all to leave before turning her attention back to her list.

“I thank you for your patience, students of Witchcraft Academy!” She began. “Now, allow me to explain how your days will be carried out. You will be departing for classes alongside three other groups. This should be no more than your usual class sizes! I have drawn up a list of groups, or ‘clusters’ for your first day! Please be in mind, however, that your cluster for tomorrow will be different than your cluster for today!” Now, please pay attention for your group members!”

Headmistress Edenshaw began to rattle off the names of various group members, placing them in their different clusters. Diana waited patiently for her group’s calling. Next to her, however, her groupmates began to strike up a conversation. Diana didn’t care to listen in, instead only casting a disappointed look in their direction. There was plenty of time for idle chit chat both between and after classes. The least they could do was pretend to pay attention.

“Cluster D’s last group will be Cavendish’s Team, Kagari’s Team, and O’Neil’s team!”

Diana perked up. She looked at her group mates. “That’s us, girls. Let’s go.” She picked up her tray and began to make her way toward the stairs. The sound of shuffling from behind her told her that her group mates weren’t far behind. She quickly made her way down the stairs and dropped off her tray, waiting for the rest of her group before joining up with her appointed cluster.

The girls they were with seemed nice enough. Diana knew none of them by name but had seen them throughout the halls on occasion. Atsuko and Amanda were quick to strike up a conversation with them, but Diana wasn’t paying attention.

The sound of someone clearing their throat prompted Diana’s head to turn. It was Headmistress Edenshaw. “Alright, students.” She said. “Now that you’re in your clusters I will assign you to your classes. You will all be attending the same two classes today but at different times.” She pointed at two of the clusters. “Clusters ‘A’ and ‘B’, you will be attending our ‘Fundamentals of Magic’ course located on the third and fourth floor respectively. They are in rooms 302 and 402 on the east side of the school.” She turned her attention to the other two clusters. “‘C’ and ‘D’, you will be starting off with our ‘Cultural Studies’ course. You will also find them on those floors. They will be in rooms 330 and 430.” She smiled and spread her arms wide. “Now, I will not keep you girls any longer. You can go straight to your classes if you’re ready. I hope you all have fun while you’re here with us.”

After bidding goodbye to Headmistress Edenshaw the clusters quickly departed for their classes. The hallways were mercifully empty. Diana assumed that they’d be given that most if not all sorceresses were in their classes by this point.

It wasn’t long before the group arrived in front of their classroom door. It was closed, but voices were still audible from behind the door. Diana wordlessly pushed open the door. The class appeared to be in full swing. Funnily enough, Professor Finnelan was there. She appeared to be teaching the class, writing down something indiscernible on the whiteboard. She turned around at the sound of the door closing.

“Ah, you girls are finally here.” Finnelan said. She gestured to the other side of the room, where one of the School of Sorcery’s professors was sitting. “Your instruction will be with her today.”

“Finnelan’s teaching the students?” Amanda snickered. The cluster began making their way toward the professor. “I feel bad for ‘em.”

Diana shot her a glare. “I believe that’s quite enough of that, O’Neil.” She snapped.

Amanda rolled her eyes but didn’t say anything.

The professor smiled as everyone took their seats. She waved her hand in the direction of Finnelan and the sorceresses. Instantly the noise coming from that side of the room was silenced. Diana had to admit, despite knowing the abilities of a sorceress, the action was most impressive.

“Hello, class.” The woman said. “My name is Professor Mandela. I will be your instructor for your first portion of the day. I’m sure Headmistress Edenshaw already told you what you will be doing, but I will be teaching you about the aspects of our culture both in the magical, and non-magical world.” She stood up “Now, is there anything anyone can tell me about sorceresses?”

Diana wracked her brain for answers. Desperately sifting through all her knowledge to come up with something, anything to offer up as an answer. Truth be told, there wasn’t much she knew about them. She never had any access to books about them, nor were they ever touched upon in any great detail in witching books.

Well, maybe there was one thing she’d read before.

“Yes, Ms. Cavendish?”

Diana stood up from her desk. “Truthfully I don’t know much about sorceresses beyond their stark magical contrast to witches.” She began. “However, I do know that sorceresses live in a fairly isolationist society. They’ve lived that way for as far as our records date back.”

Professor Mandela gave Diana a smile as she sat back down.

“An excellent answer, Ms. Cavendish.” She said. “I see that Finnelan was right, you truly are well-learned.”

Professor Mandela waved her hand and a stack of papers floated out from behind her. One by one the paper floated off of the stack and onto each student’s desk. “So let’s start from there, shall we?”

The rest of the class went by rather quickly. Well, mostly. The material was quite interesting, but every so often Diana would catch one of the sorceresses staring at her side of the classroom. It was a blessing when lunch finally rolled around and the group of nine reclaimed their old spot from breakfast. However, lunch came to an end all too quickly as Headmistress Edenshaw came by and called the cluster to “Magical History” class - specifically the history of sorceresses. Once again one of the Witchcraft Academy professors was teaching the sorceresses, and the School of Sorcery’s professor was teaching the witches. Frankly, Diana found the topic to be fascinating. So much so that she almost didn’t catch the looks being cast her cluster’s way.

Almost.

All too soon, however, the class was over. The girls bid goodbye to the other groups before meandering back down to the cafeteria, Diana at the helm. On the way down Amanda began whining about something. What it was Diana didn’t know or care for. What she _did_ care for however were the occasional chuckles she caught from the surrounding sorceresses.

“Quiet down, O’Neil.” Diana snapped. She whirled around and glared at Amanda. “You’re making a scene.”

Amanda shrugged. “Don’t worry about it, Cavendish. No one cares.”

Diana grit her teeth. No one cares? _No one cares?_ “Need I remind you that your actions here reflect on the academy as a whole? Or have you forgotten that?”

Amanda snorted. “Come on, Cavendish. Sorceresses don’t care two ways about what witches do.”

Diana stared at her for a few moments, before shaking her head. Clearly arguing with Amanda was beyond reason. She picked up her pace, prompting the rest of the girls to do the same. The less of an embarrassment the rest of her group could be the better.

It wasn’t long before the group arrived at the cafeteria. The doors seemed to be in a perpetual state of opening and closing with all of the students entering and exiting through it. After a little trouble, the nine managed to make their way through and into the cafeteria.

The cafeteria was by far the busiest it had been all day. The cafeteria was jam-packed with students everywhere on the first floor. There were students along tables, students along walls, students everywhere. The group quickly grabbed their trays and made their way back up to their usual spot in the cafeteria.

“So, girls.” Lotte spoke up once the group was situated. “How do you feel about our first day?”

“I’m beat.” Amanda replied. She sighed. “Why’re the classes so long, huh?”

“They have much to teach us in little time, O’Neil.” Diana said. “I’d wager that consolidating classes was the best option.

Amanda shrugged, seemingly content with the answer.

“I guess,” she said, putting her hands behind her head. “But still, couldn’t they have maybe thrown a break in there or something? Sheesh.”

Diana nodded. Despite O’Neil’s crude phrasing, she had a point. Diana wasn’t particularly fond of the idea either. Sure she was capable of sitting down and paying attention in a class for three hours - she had already done that twice today, but that didn’t mean it was enjoyable. Unfortunately, this wasn’t a case of “wants”, but “needs”.

“To be honest… I agree with Amanda.” Lotte said. She smiled nervously. “It was surprisingly bland.”

Diana blinked. “Really? I found it quite fascinating myself.”

“Yeah, well not everyone loves learning like you.” Atsuko muttered.

“If you’re going to try and insult me at least look me in the eyes when you do it, Kagari.” Diana ignored the venomous looks Atsuko shot her.

Soon after their brief exchange conversation slowly began to grow again. Diana wasn’t paying much attention. She sighed and adjusted herself so she was looking out across the cafeteria.

_It looks so much more crowded from up here._

Her eyes scanned the crowd for the sorceress Atsuko knew from yesterday. At the rate her interactions with Atsuko were going it might be more prudent to seek her out herself. She could introduce herself as an acquaintance of Atsuko’s or somesuch.

Diana lost track of the time she spent searching for the girl, but unfortunately, she was unable to spot her. A foolish endeavor, given her height, but an endeavor nonetheless. However, just as she was about to turn back to face her groupmates she caught sight of the cafeteria door opening.

It was Headmistress Edenshaw. Diana observed as the Headmistress wasted no time in briskly walking towards the front of the cafeteria. Any sorceresses that saw her were quick to fall silent, nudging their friends and any nearby witches and drawing their attention to Edenshaw. Diana turned her attention back to her group mates. They were still talking amongst themselves.

“Pardon me, girls.” Diana cut in. She gestured to the first floor. “The Headmistress has arrived.”

Diana silently thanked the nine when the rest of the girls quickly stopped talking. Everyone turned around and peered out of the railing - save for Atsuko and Amanda, who were still adamantly sitting along the wall.

The cafeteria was completely silent. All eyes were fixed on the Headmistress. Headmistress Edenshaw looked out across the cafeteria for a moment before spreading her arms wide.

“Hello once again, students!” She said. “I hope you are all adjusting well to your new life!”

A myriad of responses emanated from the crowd. Some students were nodding, others shaking their heads.

“I would say our living conditions could be improved." Hannah muttered. “Present company makes life rather… difficult.”

“Hey! Just what are you trying to say?!” Atsuko shot back.

“Girls.” Diana snapped. “Please.”

Edenshaw chuckled. “I’m glad most of you are adjusting well to your situation! And even if you are not, don’t worry. I promise you will in time. Now, in regards to your schedule.” She paused. “In the past, it’s proven useful to make this a formal announcement. With certain exceptions, our school requires all students to be in their dorms by nine-thirty PM at the latest! This rule extends to all witches as well! I kindly advise you all to heed this rule, for there will be consequences - from me and likely from Headmistress Holbrooke - should you choose not to abide by this rule!”

There was a general murmur of agreement from the witches.

“Wow, a whole extra half hour.” Sucy said. “How generous.”

“Now, with that said, the rest of the evening is yours to do with as you please!” Edenshaw said. “I do hope you enjoy yourselves!”

Edenshaw quickly stepped down from the front of the cafeteria and made her way out of the cafeteria. Once she was gone the noise level steadily rose. One by one the students began to stand up and leave. Diana’s group was no different, wasting no time in dropping off their trays before migrating into the hallway.

“So we don’t have anything to do now?” Lotte asked.

“It would appear so.” Diana said. “If that’s the case, I believe I will be heading to the Library.”

“Of course.” Akko muttered.

Diana’s eyes narrowed. “I do not care what the rest of you girls choose to do, but I expect you all back by nine-thirty at the latest. She took off to the library in a huff - walking much faster than she would usually deem “appropriate”, but that was of little concern. As much as she was loath to admit, Atsuko was getting on her nerves. Sure, Diana could be a little condescending with the girl from time to time, but she was never openly antagonistic to her.

Diana forced open the library doors and made a beeline for the nonfiction section. She pulled out the first book she could find and made her way towards a table next to the window.

_Besides. Someone has to keep those girls in check._

Diana cracked the book open and directed her attention to the words on the pages. It wouldn’t do her any good to stress out over how the others perceived her. She would never see them after Witchcraft Academy anyways.

Diana lost track of how much time she spent reading. Maybe because it was quiet - it had been the whole time. Or perhaps it was the intriguing nature of the book. Or maybe it was because, for the first time that day, not all eyes in the room were pointed in her direction.

Truth be told, it was quite nice.

The sunlight filtering through the window - a vibrant orange that illuminated everything it touched, was temporarily snuffed out. Diana jerked her head up.

On the other side of the window, flying high above the ground was Amanda. She was flying rather erratically, swerving from side to side and performing a myriad of tricks on her broom.

Constanze and Jasminka were with her too. They were both sitting on the ground just beyond the window. Jasminka turned around and her eyes fell on Diana. They locked eyes for a second before Jasminka smiled, and gave her a wave. Diana blinked in confusion before slowly returning it.

She dog-eared the page and closed the book. She adjusted herself to look out the window, more than content to watch Amanda’s broom dancing for a little while. Her various flips and turns on the broom were very impressive, to say the least. Watching her rocket upwards into the sky before plummeting back down to earth in a freefall, completely carefree. Diana had to admit, regardless of how Amanda regarded her academic pursuits (or didn’t for that matter), she couldn’t deny that Amanda’s affinity for broom dancing was unlike any other she’d ever seen. The way she approached each trick was without worry or concern.

If only she were to take her studies more seriously, Diana would no doubt admire her.

Diana shook her head and turned back to her book. Dwelling on these thoughts would no more assist her as they would turn O’Neil into an academic.

The rest of her reading session passed by rather quickly. Diana only noticed how late it was once the students began to migrate en masse out of the library. She quickly dog-eared the book once more before tucking it under her arm and exiting the library.

Diana cautiously opened the door when she got back. She poked her head in and scanned the room. No one. She sighed, fully stepping into the room and letting the door close.

_Not like I was expecting anything less._

Still, it would have been nice to be surprised for once.

Diana looked at the clock. It was almost nine. With any luck, she would at least be able to prepare herself to turn in before curfew. She quickly set the book on her bed, grabbed her nightgown, and made her way towards the showers.

= = = = = = = = = = 

When Diana got back Hannah, Barbara, and the green team were already waiting for her. Amanda and Jasminka each were sitting on their beds while Hannah and Barbara were off talking to each other near the desks. In the far corner of the room sat Constanze, tinkering around with what appeared to be her “Stanbot”.

Amanda glanced up. “Oh, hey Cavendish.”

“I don’t suppose any of you have seen Kagari and her team?”

Amanda shook her head. “Nah. Haven’t seen ‘em.”

“I see.” Diana looked at the clock. It was almost twenty-five past. She sighed. Try as she might, Atsuko seemed determined to make life at this academy as difficult as she could. Diana walked over to her bed and picked up her book. She climbed under the covers and opened it back up to the dog-eared page. She’d only search for them if they did not come back by curfew. She did say back by nine-thirty after all. She wasn’t about to go back on that.

Fortunately, it never came to that. Just as the clock was going on it’s last minute the door burst open, tearing Diana away from her book. It was the red team.

“Hey, look who showed up!” Amanda said grinning. “Where were ya?”

I’m glad you heeded the curfew.” Diana cut in. She directed her eyes back down to the book. “I would’ve hated having to track you three down.

“We got back in time for the curfew, you know!” Atsuko shot back.

“I never said you didn’t.” Diana never took her eyes off her book. “I said I was glad you girls heeded the curfew.”

She could hear the steam billowing from Atsuko as the girl stormed to her bedside, yanking off her uniform and forcing on her nightgown.

Not too long after their bout, all of the girls were in their beds. Diana once again dog-eared her book before setting it underneath her bed. Today had certainly been interesting, what with all the stares being cast in her group’s direction. It was certainly unexpected as far as she was concerned. There was no logical explanation as far as she knew, save for possibly her family name, but surely that was meaningless to sorceresses. Atsuko’s magical background (or lack thereof) certainly turned heads in the witching community, though sorceresses likely didn’t care, nor would they know of her background.

_Although…_

Atsuko did know a sorceress. It’s possible that that girl she knew was quite the popular one at this school. A longshot to be sure, but it was the most logical conclusion she could draw.

Diana sighed and rolled over. At this rate, she was never going to get sleep. She bid Hannah and Barbara goodnight, smiling when they returned her gesture.

= = = = = = = = = = 

Not long after Diana had gone to bed did the others do too. One by one everyone bid everyone else goodnight, and not long after their breathing eventually evened out. It wasn’t long before everyone was asleep - all except for Amanda.

Once she was certain everyone was asleep she crept out of her bed and over to Akko’s. She was asleep. Amanda rolled her eyes. Funny how despite all the excitement of being back at their school, Akko still was able to go out like a light when night hit.

“Akko.”

Akko didn’t stir.

“Akko!” Amanda hissed.

Again, nothing.

Amanda sighed. She placed a hard on Akko and began to shake her.

“Mmmf… Stop it, Sucy...” Akko muttered.

Amanda snickered. “Sorry, Akko. I’m not Sucy.”

At the sound of Amanda’s voice, Akko immediately bolted upright. “Amanda?!” She hissed. Her face was burning a bright red.

“Who else?” Amanda chuckled. “C’mon, let’s go.” She stood up and made her way towards the door. Akko joined her after a minute or two. Amanda looked at her. She was clutching a sealed ceremonial uniform in her arms.

Amanda quietly pushed open the door, letting Akko out first before stepping through it herself. However, just as she was about to close it she heard a small noise come from inside their room. She paused, and opened the door slightly, looking inside once again. Nothing. Amanda shrugged and closed the door, quickly catching up with Akko who was already on her way towards the library.

“So,” Amanda said, gesturing to the uniform. “René?”

“Yeah.” Akko nodded. “I hope she’s there tonight. I didn’t catch her at all at mealtime today.”

“You didn’t have to sit with us y’know. I’m sure the girls would’ve understood.”

“I know that!” Akko’s face began to heat up. “I just… didn’t know if we had to stick together is all.”

Amanda chuckled. “If you say so.” Akko glared at her but she pretended not to notice. In truth, perhaps it was a better idea that Akko hadn’t tried to seek René out. The stares the sorceresses were giving Akko and herself weren’t exactly subtle, not by miles. She glanced at Akko. Akko appeared to be inspecting the uniform, making sure all of the crinkles and folds were removed. She didn’t look particularly worried. Maybe she hadn’t noticed? It was certainly possible. Akko had never been particularly observant. Amanda shrugged. It was already a mercy that Trish and the girls did whatever they did. She and Akko couldn’t really ask for more.

Amanda tore her eyes off her friend. The Library door was in sight. She pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind. She had time to think about it later. Right now was her time to relax. She nudged Akko. “Here we are.”

Amanda wasted no time in opening the door. The sounds from inside immediately rushed out to greet them.

“After you.” Amanda said.

Akko snickered but said nothing as she walked through the door. Amanda was quick to follow, letting the door creak shut behind her.

Just like last night, the library was chock-full of sorceresses, all going about their business, be it flying high or sitting down and studying. The atmosphere was once again, extremely tranquil despite all the busybodies in the room. Amanda smiled. She closed her eyes and let herself soak in the atmosphere. Sure, she never really was one meditation or anything, but being back in this room after a long day of classes was somehow revitalizing.

“Hey, look who showed up again!” Amanda opened her eyes. Trish leaped down from the second floor and floated gracefully down in front of the two girls. “Took you two long enough to get here!”

Before Akko or Amanda could reply Trish turned around and cupped her hand over her mouth.

“Hey, everyone!” She shouted, “O’Neil and Kagari couldn’t stay away!”

The effect was immediate. The entire library stopped what it was doing as sorceresses all flocked down to where Akko and Amanda were.

“Hey, what’s up?!

“So you did come back after all!”

“So how was your first day back?!”

Amanda threw up her hands. “Of course we came back!” She laughed. “What did ya think we’d do?”

A couple of giggles rippled throughout the crowd.

“Alright, alright.” Trish said. She pushed some of the sorceresses away. “So did anyone bother ya today?”

Amanda shook her head. “Nah. Whatever you girls did it sure worked.”

Trish grinned. “‘Course it did!”She grabbed Akko’s and Amanda’s hands and pulled the girls back over to the table from last night. “Come on you two, sit down.”

Akko and Amanda obliged, taking their seats from the night before.

“So anyways!” A girl from the crowd piped up. “How was your first day back?”

“Yeah!” Said another. “How were classes?”

Amanda chuckled. “Easy!” She kicked her legs up onto the table. “Nothing we didn’t already know from experience.”

“Funny.” Trish muttered. “I guess that explains the teachers.”

“Huh?” Akko asked. “Whaddya mean?”

Trish shrugged. “Some of the classes right now are going over segments related to witches. Our professors have been hyping it up for months. I guess it’s no surprise that Witchcraft Academy’s faculty is teaching that right now.”

“At least they’re not chaperoning the witches all day!” One of the girls piped up.

Amanda chuckled. “You’d be surprised. Some of the witches are pretty uptight. I think we’re the ones who’d need it more.”

“You’re talking about the green-haired girl, right?” Trish asked. “Cavendish, or something like that?”

Amanda nodded. “Yeah, her.” She gave Akko a smirk. “To be honest, I think she wouldn’t make a half-bad sorceress.”

Trish’s eyes widened. “Wait, really?”

Amanda nodded.

“You really think that?”

“Sure.” Amanda said. She ignored Akko’s glare. “She performed magic without a wand at the Samhain festival. It was probably the highlight of the whole thing.”

“Huh, no foolin’.” Trish said.

“You think she’ll apply?” Another girl from the crowd asked.

“Probably.” Amanda chuckled. “She didn’t take her eyes off the application yesterday.”

A ripple of laughter swept through the crowd.

Amanda lost track of the time as she and Akko talked to the girls. The topic drifted all over the place from Diana (much to Akko’s discomfort), to other members of the green and red teams. As time went on some of the girls began to drift away back to their original spots, picking up what they were working on before the two girls came in. It wasn’t too long before only Trish was left with Akko and Amanda. The library had resumed its regular noise level again.

“Excuse me, Trish?” A girl clutching a book came padding up to Trish and tapped her shoulder.

“Huh? Yeah?” Trish turned around. “What do you need?”

“Well…” The student opened her book and pointed to a line of text. “I’m not sure what the book is trying to say here. Could you help me please?”

Trish smiled. “Sure.” She got up and gave Akko and Amanda a smile. “Sorry, girls. I’ll be back in a minute.”

“Don’t worry about it!” Akko replied. “It’s fine.”

The two girls watched Trish follow the girl back to her table and sit down next to her, and began to point to various parts of the book. The other girl seemed to be following her, asking a few questions and occasionally nodding, or shaking her head.

Amanda felt a pang of jealousy pierce through her. An urge to be there helping that girl too, or anyone else for that matter. It was a feeling she didn’t even realize she missed. She looked at the clock. About fifteen until eleven. That gave her and Akko, what, thirty minutes within reason? That should probably be enough time to at least help one or two people. “Hey, Akko.”

“Huh?” Akko looked at her. “What is it?”

Amanda grinned. “What say you, we go and help some of the girls, huh?”

Akko blinked. “Uhhh…”

“C’mon, Akko! It’ll be fun!”

“Well, yeah but - hey!” Whatever Akko was saying, Amanda wasn’t listening. She grabbed Akko’s arm and pulled, yanking her up from her seat and dragging her over to Trish.

“Hey, Trish!”

“Huh?” Trish looked up, her eyes flitting between Amanda and Akko. “Yeah? Something the matter?”

“Nah.” Amanda let go of Akko and gestured about the room. “I was wondering if we could pitch in, y’know?” She grinned. “We weren’t exactly tutors this year.”

Trish looked stunned. “Really? You want to help?”

“‘Course!” Amanda put a hand on the back of her neck. “We probably need it more for ourselves anyways.”

Trish chuckled. “Well sure, I don’t see why not. How long were ya thinkin’?”

“About half an hour tops.” Amanda replied. “That’s about the most we can spare.”

Trish shrugged. “Hey, your time, your choice.” She smiled. “Thanks for the help.” Her gaze flitted between the two girls. “You two gonna do your usual?”

“Sure.” Amanda said. “Don’t see why not.” She turned to Akko. “So, see ya back here in thirty?”

“Wha? But I can’t just -!” Akko stammered. “What if we lose track of time?!”

Amanda patted her on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on the clock.”

_Tia Freye!_

Amanda shot up into the air. “Have fun, Akko!” She flashed Akko a thumbs up, before shooting off to the upper levels of the library. Akko was shouting something, but she couldn’t hear her. She quickly came to a soft land on the third floor and looked around. There were a few students, most in groups, but there were one or two students off to themselves attempting - and failing - to cast spells. Amanda smiled.

This should keep her busy for a half-hour, easy.

= = = = = = = = = = 

“Amanda!” Akko shouted to her friend’s retreating figure. “Get back here!”

“Something wrong, Akko?”

Akko turned her head back to Trish. “No.” She threw a smile onto her face. “I’d love to help! Where do you need me?”

“Hmmm…” Trish put a hand on her chin. “Well, for the most part, I think we’ve got everyone covered.” She gave Akko a smirk. “Unless you wanna go help Amanda out?”

Akko took a step back. “Uhhh…” She put her hands up and gave Trish a sheepish smile. “I think I’ll pass. Spellcasting is more Amanda’s thing, y’know?”

Trish chuckled. “Thought so. But I do have an idea for you.”

“What is it?”

“Well,” Trish grinned. “Wanna go to your old dorm room?”

Akko cocked her head. Her old dorm room? Why? Had something changed? As much as she’d like to, there wasn’t any reason for her to really go there.

_Unless… Wait a minute!_

Akko’s eyes widened. “Is René still there?” Akko asked.

“She sure is!” Trish said. “No one new moved in either. She was pretty adamant that no one took your spot in the dorms.” Trish chuckled. “Surprisingly the staff didn’t put up much of a fight.”

Akko chuckled. “Alright, I’ll head there right now!” She turned around and made a beeline for the door. “Tell Amanda I’ll be back here in time!”

“Can do!” Trish called out. “See ya later!”

Akko waved goodbye to Trish as she pelted towards the door. She wasted no time in throwing it open and sprinting towards the west wing of the school. Her grip on the sealed uniform tightened and her heartbeat louder and louder with each step she took. Akko didn’t even bother checking around to see if anyone was about. There was no way René would escape her this time! Akko pivoted around the entrance to the dorms, cutting as little speed as she could. She nearly jumped down the last flight of stairs and blitzed down the hallway, skidding to a halt about halfway down.

_Let’s see… one-ten, one-twelve, one-fourteen!_

Akko’s knuckles slammed against the door to room one-fourteen. There was no response.

_I hope she’s not asleep._

Akko rapped on the door a couple more times.

“Who is it?” A slightly annoyed voice sounded from inside. “It’s ten-fifty at night! You better have a good reason for knocking!”

“Awww, René! Akko said. “Don’t be like that! This is my room too!”

The voice on the other end was silent. From outside the room, Akko could just make out the muffled sound of a chair scraping across the floor, followed by the sounds of footsteps coming closer towards the door.

After a moment of pure silence, the door slowly opened. Sure enough, it was René. She was dressed in a nightgown much like Akko’s, and her hair had been put up in a ponytail.

“Akko?” René asked after a minute. She rubbed her eyes before blinking them a few times.

“Yup!” Akko giggled. “Who else?”

Almost immediately Akko found herself wrapped in a spine crushing hug as René pulled her into the dorm room.

“Akko!” René said. “It’s so good to see you again! Sorry I couldn’t make it to the meetup last night! I’ve had so much on my plate at the moment. But I’m getting it done, I promise.”

“It’s good to see you again too, René!” Akko said. She pried herself away from the girl’s grip, taking a seat on her old bed.

_Just like how I left it._

“Trish said you’d be here.” Akko said. “Did you put something off ‘till the last minute?”

René blushed. “Hey! That was last night! Tonight I was just feeling tired with all the company here, y’know?”

Akko quirked an eyebrow. “Are you sure René?”

“What? Of course I am!” René said. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

Akko said nothing. She kept her gaze on René for a few minutes before René began to fidget.

“Alright, fine.” René said. She deflated. “I give. The teachers swamped us with homework for the unit on witches. I’ve been doing as much as I can but,” her blush deepened. “I’m kinda stuck.”

Akko giggled. That made more sense. “You want my help?”

René gasped. Her hands clamped down on Akko’s shoulders. “You would do that?!” Her whole face brightened.

Akko smiled. “Of course! You’re my friend, René! Why wouldn’t I help you?”

“Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!” René said. She took one of Akko’s arms and pulled her off her bed, and guided her to her desk. “It’s not much, I promise.”

“It’s okay, René.” Akko said. She grabbed a chair from her side of the dorm and moved it closer to René. “So what’s up?”

“Well,” René grabbed a sheet of paper and passed it to Akko. It looked about half done. “It’s this.” She pointed to where her progress had stopped. “Can you help me, Akko? Please?”

Akko nodded and turned her attention to the question.

_Among the Witching community it is considered to be disrespectful to ask questions about what? Please write down what it is and what other aspect of Witching culture plays into this._

Akko chuckled. It was actually a fairly simple question. It was one of the first things she and Amanda had learned a year prior when they were learning all they could about witches to ready themselves for transferring.

“Well?” René asked. “You know what it is?”

“Uh-huh!” Akko said. “You bet!”

René’s eyes lit up. “Great!” She said. “So what is it?”

“Sorry, René!” Akko wagged a finger at her friend. “I can’t just tell ya like that!”

René pouted. “Oh c’mon, Akko! We don’t have all night!”

“I know that!” Akko said. “Look.” She put the paper back in front of René and pointed to the problem. “What matters a lot to witches?”

“Their lineage.” René said. That’s not a hard answer, Akko.”

“Yeah.” Akko said. “And witches are extremely guarded about what’s important to them, right?”

“Yeah, but where does that factor into-?” René’s eyes widened. “Ohhh…”

Akko smiled as René connected the dots and began to furiously scribble down onto the paper. Akko missed this, she really did. Just sitting down with a student and guiding them through a problem, and feeling proud of them when they worked through it.

Maybe it would be possible to transfer back here after the trip.

Akko shook her head. No. That was just wishful thinking, and besides, it was only a year. That wasn’t too much in the grand scheme of things. She still had what, five or so more years at the School of Sorcery after this? She could live through the rest of the year. Hopefully.

“Aaand… done!” René’s triumphant cry pulled Akko out of her thoughts.

Akko looked down. Sure enough, René had penned in an answer to the question.

“Good job, René!” She gave the girl a smile. “Need anything else?”

“Nope!” René said. “I should be able to answer the rest of this just fine! Thanks a million, Akko!”

“Of course!” Akko said. “Always happy to help!”

René giggled. “I bet you help all the students at Witchcraft Academy too.”

“Why, me?!” Akko asked. “No! No, that’s not what I do there.”

“You don’t?” René cocked her head. “Why not?”

“Well…” Akko paused. “It’s a long story.”

“Oh c’mon, Akko!” René pulled Akko to her feet and guided her to her bed. They both sat down. “We got time! Tell me what’s been happenin’ over there!”

“Uhhh…” Akko smiled sheepishly. “How much do you wanna know?”

“Everything! What else, Akko?” René chuckled. “Just start from the beginning! I’m all ears.”

Akko gulped. “From the beginning?”

René nodded. “From the beginning.”

Akko sighed. She looked at the clock. About twenty minutes until eleven-fifteen. Sure, why not? René wouldn’t drop it anyways. “Fine.”

Akko lost track of time as she told René everything she could remember from the year. She began with how she hitched a ride with her soon to be dorm mates, all the way up to the Samhain Magic Festival - and her low point of the year.

“And after we get back from here, Headmistress Holbrooks says there’s gonna be some spirit hunt going on.” Akko said. She grimaced. “Dunno what it’s about but if it’s anything like the Samhain Festival it’s gonna be pretty boring.”

“Wow.” René said after a few moments. “I’m glad I stayed here then. Sorry Akko.”

Akko giggled. “Don’t worry, René, I get it. It was my choice anyway.”

René smiled. “So how’re ya gonna make up the year then? Summer classes?”

“Yeah.” Akko said. “Amanda and I are gonna take our classes together.” She grinned and gave René a thumbs up. “They’re gonna be easy!”

“Actually, Akko.” René said. “Some of the classes this year were pretty rough.”

“Don’t worry, René!” Akko said. “Amanda and I’ll be fine! I promise!”

René chuckled. “Alright then Akko, I believe you.”

“You’d better!” Akko set her hand back down again.

She felt plastic.

Akko instinctively pulled her hand back up and glanced down at the source. It was the sealed uniform.

_Oh right! I forgot about this!_

She turned to René. The girl seemed to be looking off into space, not really bothering to check on what Akko was doing.

_Perfect!_

“Hey, René.” Akko said. She tucked her hand underneath the uniform.

“Huh?” René turned to look at her. “Yeah, Akko?”

“Catch!” Akko lifted her hand up and lightly tossed the sealed uniform at René.

“Wait, what the-?”

René quickly stuck out her hands, catching the uniform. She gave it the once over before giving Akko a confused expression.

“Aren’t these the uniforms you were wearing yesterday?”

“Uh-huh!” Akko said. “That one’s for you! I got Trish one just like that too!”

“Wait, really?” René glanced back down at the uniform for a moment, then back at Akko. A smile brighter than the sun formed on her face. “Thank you, Akko! I love it!”

Akko smiled. “Of course! I knew you would!”

René wasted no time tearing into the seal, quickly opening it and pulling the uniform out. She let go of it, letting it float in the air before standing up and looking at it from all sides.

“Huh.” René said. “They’re really fancy.”

“You think so?” Akko asked. “I don’t really like ‘em.”

“You don’t?” René looked up at her. “Why not?”

“Well,” Akko paused. What was the best way to describe it? Sure, maybe they were nice to look at and they did look very ‘witchy’ for as much as that meant, but why did they exist? Sure they were for ceremonies, but…

“I just don’t get why they have them.” Akko said. “I mean, we don’t have any ceremonial uniform or anything like that. Isn’t it, I dunno, kinda overkill?”

“I dunno about that.” René said, shifting her attention back to the uniform. “It sounds kinda fun to have a ceremonial uniform.” She looked back at Akko and grinned. “Maybe we could pinch some ideas from them?”

Akko shuddered. “No! No, no, no!” The idea of taking anything from witches sounded dreadful. They were so snobby, what with all their traditions and rituals and whatnot! Sure maybe it was just the old professors, but still! It just wasn’t fun!

“Oh yeah, Akko.” René’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts. “What time did you say you have to leave again?”

Akko looked up. Ten past twelve. She sighed.

“Probably about now.” She gave René a sheepish smile. “Sorry, René.”

René waved a hand. “Don’t worry about it, Akko! Thanks again for the uniform! I’ll talk to you later, yeah?”

“Sure!” Akko opened the door. “And make sure I can find you next time! I’m always looking for you during meals!” René’s only response was a laugh. Akko stuck her tongue out at her before closing the door. Once she did she sprinted back down the hallway and up the flight of stairs, booking it back to the library.

Amanda was already waiting for Akko outside the Library by the time she made it there.

“Hey, look who showed up!” Amanda said, grinning.

Akko rolled her eyes as the two began walking towards their group’s room.

“Trish told me where ya scampered off to.” Amanda said. “How was it?”

“It was great!” Akko said. “René was stuck on a problem so I helped her with it, but after that we just caught up! I gave her the uniform too!”

“Oh yeah?” Amanda asked. “She liked it?”

“Yup!” Akko said. She sighed. “She also made me tell her all about the School of Witchcraft too.”

Amanda chuckled. “So? What’s wrong with that?”

“Well, it’s just-!” Akko sputtered, looking for the right words. “It’s just so _boring_ , y’know? Nothing’s happened there at all!” She sighed. “I just wonder if Headmistress Edenshaw can transfer us back here after the field trip.”

Amanda raised an eyebrow. “Transfer us back? That’s not gonna happen, Akko.”

“I know.” Akko said. Her shoulders slumped. “I just wanna be back here. I don’t wanna wait the rest of the year!”

Amanda tapped a finger against her chin. “Eh, I guess I know what you mean.” She shrugged. “But I think I’d rather stick it out, y’know?.”

“Wait, you would?”

“Sure, why not?” Amanda asked. She chuckled. “It can be pretty fun back there if you know where to look.” She flashed Akko a grin. “And what can I say? The girls grew on me.”

Akko chuckled slightly. Sure, she could kind of understand where Amanda was coming from. She loved seeing Sucy and Lotte every day as much as Amanda loved seeing her teammates. But to sit through the rest of the year, doing nothing day after day? That was a little too much for her.

Also, Amanda didn’t have a teammate that actively tried to prank her every waking moment. As much as Akko loved Sucy the girl could be pretty draining.

“Here we are.” Amanda said. She pulled the door to their room open quietly. “After you.”

Akko obliged, quickly making her way through the door and over to her bed. She quickly kicked off her shoes and climbed into her bed. Through the darkness, she could just make out Amanda doing the same thing.

“Goodnight, Amanda.” Akko whispered.

“Night, Akko.” Came the reply.

Akko smiled and quickly tucked herself in. She felt her eyelids grow heavy as soon as her head hit the pillow. Overall the day had been pretty good. The classes were easy - albeit boring, and the night had been fun. Plus she had gotten to see René again!

As long as the rest of the days go like this everything should be fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading. It's been over a month since the last chapter and I apologize, but the story's still alive. Overall I'm pretty happy with this one. It's by far the largest chapter to date. I'm unsure if it will continue around this length, but we'll see. Also, I'd like to wish you all a happy summer vacation. Do as much as you can in these circumstances, and stay safe.


	7. Conduit Lesson

The feeling of cold metal against her face pulled Constanze out of her dreams. It came in the form of one tap. Then two. She brushed her hand in front of her face, hoping to brush Stanbot away. Her efforts were to little success as the tapping came back almost immediately. She groaned, forcing herself upright and kicking her feet over the bed. She let her feet dangle for a moment before hopping down to the floor. She held out her arms to catch Stanbot and lowered it to the floor, letting it off with little more than a glare. Stanbot had taken to waking her up should she sleep in for too long. It certainly helped her attend her classes, which was appreciated.

It didn’t mean she liked it.

“Good morning, Constanze!”

Constanze looked up. Jasminka was sitting on her bunk. She was holding some sort of chip bag in her hands with a neatly folded uniform on her lap. Constanze gave her a wave before sparing a glance at the other two teams.

Diana was sitting on her bed, already fully dressed and reading the book she’d come back with last night. Hannah and Barbara also appeared to be ready, though it was hard to tell. Their hair - which looked like it always did - was under assault by their hairbrushes, which didn’t seem to be letting up anytime soon. On the other side of the room, the red team was starting to get ready. Lotte appeared to be ready, or at least mostly and Sucy was still in her nightgown. Akko on the other hand was still fully sacked out, with one arm hanging off the bed. Sucy walked up to the girl and gave the arm an experimental kick. No reaction. Constanze shook her head before turning her attention towards her team’s bunk.

Speaking of being sacked out…

Amanda was still fast asleep albeit with a little more dignity than Akko. At the very least she wasn’t sagging over her bed. Constanze looked at the clock. Six-thirty. Breakfast was at seven and Amanda was able to move fast when she had to. Constanze began to rummage underneath the bunk for her bag. Amanda could sleep for a little while longer. She pulled out her uniform and slipped over to a corner of the room to change.

No sooner had she finished changing she felt something tap against her shoulder. It was Stanbot.

“Miss Constanze.” It said. “I have something to tell you.”

Constanze nodded, bending down to Stanbot’s level. The robot shot a quick glance towards the green team’s bed before turning back to Constanze.

“I would like to inform you that Miss O’Neil and Miss Kagari have left this room after hours both last night and the night before last.”

Constanze’s eyes narrowed. Both Amanda and Akko had left the room the past two nights? Her eyes immediately flew towards the girls in question. They were both still fast asleep.

That certainly explained a few things.

“I apologize for not mentioning this to you earlier Miss Constanze.”

Constanze looked back down at Stanbot.

“I saw it happen the first night as well. I did not think it would happen again last night too so I chose to not mention it.

Constanze smiled and patted Stanbot on the head. Neither Amanda nor Akko had been pulled aside yesterday so it was safe to assume they hadn’t been caught yet.

Yet.

Constanze straightened up. That was the problem. At this rate, Amanda would be caught by the faculty if she kept sneaking about. Akko too, by the sounds of it.

Speaking of.

Constanze out a hand to her chin. Why Akko? Sure, it was fair to say that both Amanda and Akko were friends. Heck, it was a safe bet to say that they were really close friends too. But never had Amanda taken someone else along on her nightly escapades. Not as far as she knew.

Constanze directed her attention toward the red team. Sucy appeared to be dragging Akko out of her bed by her hair. An effort to which Akko was loudly protesting. Constanze winced as Akko’s face hit the floor. She seemed mostly unharmed, thankfully, as she immediately jumped up off the floor and began yelling at Sucy.

Should she let them know?

Constanze looked down at Stanbot. Probably. Akko’s late-night escapades were the red team’s business as much as Amanda’s were her’s. Constanze quickly made her way back toward her team’s bunk, Stanbot in toe, and threw her nightgown into her bag. She grabbed a whiteboard and turned to face Stanbot. She quickly scribbled down a message and presented it to Stanbot.

_Go tell Sucy or Lotte._

Stanbot quickly read over the message before giving Constanze a small salute and shuffling over towards the red team. Constanze watched it tug on the bottom of Sucy’s nightgown, prompting the witch to look down. She glanced at Constanze before bending down to meet Stanbot. After a moment, her visible eye widened. Constanze smiled. Perfect.

Constanze turned her attention to her team’s leader. Amanda showed no signs of being awake. She was sprawled out across her bed, as fast asleep as ever. Constanze began poking at her. If it was Akko’s time to get up it was Amanda’s too. Even more so considering she’d willfully disregarded sleep in favor of exploring the school.

Amanda didn’t even so much as budge. Constanze sighed and grabbed ahold of Amanda’s arms. She pulled on them with all her might. Again, nothing. Constanze’s hands slipped and she fell backward.

A growl escaped her lips as she stood back up and grabbed Amanda’s pillow, swiftly swiping it from under her head. Amanda’s eyes flew open as soon as her head hit the mattress.

“Hey… what was that for?” Amanda muttered, lifting her body up. She blinked a few times, taking in her surroundings before her eyes finally landed on Constanze.

“Oh, morning, Conze.” She said. “What’s the time?”

Constanze pointed towards the clock on the wall behind her. By now it was probably six-forty, give or take.

Amanda’s eyes followed Constanze’s finger. She blinked a couple of times and squinted at the clock.

“Oh.” She said after a moment. She swung her legs over her bed. “That late, huh?”

Constanze nodded. She stepped back, giving Amanda some space to stand up. Amanda grabbed her uniform and meandered off to a corner of the room to get changed.

Constanze’s eyes turned to her whiteboard. It was still clutched in her hands. She quickly popped the cap off her marker and scribbled down a message for Amanda, parking herself on the girl’s bunk. Her eyes began to wander the dorm room. From the looks of it, everyone save for Amanda and Akko was fully dressed. Even Jasminka, who was now chatting it up with the red team.

After a few minutes, the sound of footsteps coming back to the bunk pulled Constanze’s attention away. Amanda was fully dressed. She sluggishly made her way toward her belongings, depositing her nightgown with the rest of her bag. Constanze stood up and tapped her on the shoulder.

“Hmm?” Amanda turned her attention to Constanze. “Yeah? Something the matter, Conze?”

Constanze nodded and flipped her whiteboard over, displaying the message.

_Can we talk outside?_

Amanda’s eyes flitted across the message, before turning back to Constanze.

“Right now?”

Constanze nodded.

“Sure.” Amanda said. “Why so hush-hush?”

Constanze turned around and began walking towards the door. She beckoned Amanda to follow her, and the two quickly made their way into the hallway.

“So, what’s up with the theatrics, Conze?” Amanda asked.

Constanze quickly scribbled down a message on her whiteboard and forked it over to Amanda.

_Stanbot told me you and Akko have been sneaking out after hours. Is this true?_

Amanda chuckled after she read the message. “Yeah, yeah we have.” She said. She gave the whiteboard back to Constanze and put a hand on the back of her neck. “A force of habit. Sorry, Conze.”

Constanze’s eyes narrowed. As grateful as she was for Amanda’s transparency, it was frustrating regardless. Headmistress Edenshaw had been explicit in the curfew, yet Amanda ignored it twice. Heck, not only that, she even went as far as to drag Akko along into whatever she was doing.

And who knows what’d be in store for her if she got caught!

Amanda winced under her harsh glare. “Alright, alright. I get it.” She put her hands up. “I’ll stop going out at night, okay? Just until we get back.”

Constanze rolled her eyes. Whatever. That was all she could hope for anyway. Nothing was gonna stop her from sneaking out back at the School of Witchcraft. She nodded and gave a thumbs up.

Amanda smiled. “Thanks for letting me off easy, Conze.”

Constanze said nothing, turning around and opening the door. She let Amanda in first, before following her in.

“There you two are.” Diana said. She bookmarked her page before snapping it shut. “Is everyone ready to leave?”

“Yeah.” Amanda said. “Constanze and I are ready.” Constanze quickly beckoned to Stanbot.

“We’re ready, Diana!” Hannah and Barbara said, flocking to Diana’s side.

“Same here.” Sucy’s voice rang out.

Everyone turned to look at the red team. Sucy was dragging a very tired, very venomous looking Akko by her wrist towards the others, Lotte trailing behind them.

Constanze felt a tug at her skirt. It was Stanbot. She quickly picked up the little robot and set it on her shoulder.

Once Sucy had finished lugging Akko towards the rest of the girl, the nine witches quickly made their way towards the cafeteria.

“So, girls.” Lotte said. The nine girls had found their way to their usual spot in the cafeteria. “What do you think will be taught today?”

“What are you asking for when we’ll be finding out after breakfast?” Hannah snapped. “Learn some patience already.”

“It was just a question.” Sucy cut in. “Learn some manners.”

“‘Learn some manners’?!” Hannah gasped. “I’ll have you know I hail from high society! I have exquisite manners, unlike some of us here!”

“Cretins.” Barbara chimed in. “Don’t go bad-mouthing Hannah like that!”

Excuse me, everyone?” Jasminka said. “Can we please not fight?”

Her words seemed to be lost on deaf ears. Neither party was ready to give up any ground. Constanze sighed. Why did those two teams always have to be so combative? She blocked out the noise, opting to turn her attention to her other group members.

Diana appeared to be ignoring the squabble surrounding her. Her gaze was focused on the crowd below her. A contemplative look was on her face as her eyes seemed to be scanning the crowd, searching for something. It was tempting to get her attention to help break up this argument, but if the exchange right next to her wasn’t getting her attention, it was doubtful that Constanze herself would be able to either.

Akko and Amanda however appeared to be in their own little world, even more so than Diana. Just like the previous day the two girls had elected to sit opposite everyone else. They appeared to be having a private exchange, blocking out everything around them. Constanze sighed.

So they were sneaking out at night, huh?

It was almost certainly because it was a new school. Amanda had taken to doing that every night without fail at the beginning of the school year. Every morning at breakfast she’d have a new location to talk about that neither Constanze nor Jasminka had ever heard of - and sometimes still haven’t seen. Truthfully it was infuriating for the first few weeks, but as the year progressed not only had she done it less often, the three had begun to grow closer. But even then, Amanda had always gone at it solo. Never had she ever offered to take one of them along. So why start bringing someone along now?

Constanze sighed. Regardless of Amanda’s motives, the problem lied in her breaking the rules. She had sworn to not sneak out at night again until they got back, and that was all Constanze could really ask for.

Then again, there was every chance Amanda could go back on her word.

“Well, _I_ say you savages know nothing of the definition of patience!”

Constanze jerked her head towards her group mates. What was once a petty argument had escalated. Hannah was glaring daggers at the red team while Barbara’s hand was moving towards her wand. Sucy was ominously fiddling with a potion vial and Lotte looked on the verge of tears.

Constanze’s heart skipped a beat. This wasn’t going to end well. She put a hand on her chin. Would she be able to stop those three? Probably not. Jasminka and Stanbot were already trying their best, but they were all but invisible to them, and truthfully, Constanze herself didn’t want to get hurt. Diana might be able to, though, considering how loyal her friends were to her. Surprisingly, the girl didn’t seem to have noticed anything. Perhaps she was too lost in her thoughts or the noise from the cafeteria. Though, considering how often her roommates bickered with everyone around them, it wouldn’t be surprising if she got used to tuning them out.

Constanze seized her fork and lobbed it towards the girl, landing squarely on her breakfast tray. Thankfully, the clatter seemed to catch her attention, eliciting a small jump from her. She gave Constanze a cross look. One which Constanze returned by pointing towards the chaos next to them.

“What is the meaning of-?” Diana’s expression hardened when she caught sight of the argument. Without a word she stood up and made her way towards the three witches.

The effect was immediate. Hannah, Barbara, and Sucy all stopped what they were doing and turned their attention towards Diana.

“While I wouldn’t mind so much any other day,” Diana said. “I would like to remind you three that we are guests at this school. It is our duty to uphold the honor of our school while we’re here.” Her eyes darted from Barbara’s wand to Sucy’s potion. “Do I make myself clear?”

Shame crept onto Hannah’s and Barbara’s faces. “Yes, Diana.” Barbara said, putting her wand away. “Sorry.”

Sucy shrugged, slipping her vial back into her uniform.

Diana nodded. “Very well.” She glanced towards the cafeteria entrance. “Oh, it would seem this timing is most opportune. The headmistress is here.”

Constanze turned around. Sure enough, Headmistress Edenshaw was already standing at the front of the cafeteria. The entire venue was already completely silent. Constanze cringed. With any luck, they hadn’t been making _too_ much noise.

“Good morning, students of Luna Nova!” Headmistress Edenshaw’s voice pierced through the silence. “I hope you all slept well!” She paused as a murmur of responses swept through the crowd. Most students nodded, some shook their heads.

Edenshaw chuckled. “I’m glad to see you acclimating so well! Now,” Edenshaw dug into her robes and pulled out a scroll. “For my sorceresses, I have no morning announcements. The witches will be joining you all again like yesterday. I invite you all to prepare for your classes.”

A scraping noise was heard as the sorceresses stood up and migrated out of the cafeteria. Once the sorceresses had left Edenshaw turned her attention to the witches.

“Witches of Luna Nova!” Edenshaw said. “On a surface level, the difference between witches and sorceresses is their ability to cast spells without a magic source or a conduit. Sorceresses need only recite the incantation in their head and can produce magic from the world around them. Today’s lessons will be focusing on that.”

Edenshaw was cut off as the cafeteria burst into hushed voices.

“Focusing on that?”

“Does she mean spells?”

“Is she trying to turn us into sorceresses?”

Edenshaw cleared her throat. The amplified sound thundered through the cafeteria, immediately quelling the outburst. All eyes turned back on her. 

“I’m thrilled to see you hear you all so excited for today’s plans.” Edenshaw chuckled. “To answer your questions, yes. Today we - or rather you all will be learning how to cast spells without a wand.” Edenshaw waved a hand. A loud creaking was heard and the doors to the cafeteria opened. In came four School of Sorcery professors, and in between them was a large green stone Constanze knew all too well.

“The Sorcerer’s Stone?” Lotte asked.

“Looks like it.” Sucy said. “It’s probably ours too.”

“Yeah.” Amanda said. “Can’t imagine where else they’d get one that large.”

“Our staff has taken the liberty to procure the Sorcerer’s Stone from your school for the purpose of today’s lessons.” Edenshaw said. “It will remain here for the rest of your stay, should any of you be in need of magic from this moment on.”

“Huh.” Amanda said. “Nifty.”

Constanze turned towards Amanda. She was eying the stone with an unreadable expression.

“With that out of the way, I will be assigning your groups clusters for the day. I implore you all to pay attention.”

As Edenshaw began to list off the clusters for the day, Constanze observed the other staff members. The professors were guiding the stone into the center of the cafeteria. Once settled, the stone began to float up, only stopping at the roof of the cafeteria.

“What are they doing?” Sucy asked.

“It looks like they’re setting up the Sorcerer’s Stone.” Lotte said.

“I can see that.” Sucy said. “But why here?”

“Maybe they don’t have a place to put it?” Akko suggested. “They don’t have a tower like they do back at the School of Witchcraft.”

“That’s true.” Lotte said.

“I’m impressed you noticed, Akko.”

“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?!”

“And the last group for Cluster D will be Cavendish’s team, Kagari’s team, and O’Neil’s team!”

If Sucy had a reply cued up it never came out. As soon as Edenshaw rattled off their three teams Diana shot to her feet.

“Let’s go, girls.” Diana said, before beginning to make her way towards the stairs, with Hannah and Barbara quick to follow.

Constanze nodded. She picked up her tray and followed Diana down the stairs, her friends right behind her. They dropped their trays off and grouped up with the rest of their cluster. Once everyone was with their clusters, Edenshaw cleared her throat.

“I’m glad you are all eager to meet your cluster members.” Edenshaw said. “But there is plenty of time for that later. For now, I will be pointing you to your classrooms.” She looked down at her paper. “Cluster’s ‘A’ and ‘C’ will be heading to rooms 110 and 310. As for clusters ‘B’ and ‘D’ please proceed to rooms 125 and 325. You will find all rooms on the west side of the school.” She smiled. “Now, I will not keep you girls any longer. You may head to your classrooms.”

The clusters migrated out of the cafeteria and started to make their way towards their classes.’ On the way, a conversation was struck up between Lotte, Jasminka and the girls from the other groups, with Akko and Amanda interjecting from time to time. Constanze wasn’t paying too much attention though. Her thoughts were primarily on other topics.

Regardless of whether she succeeded or not at today’s lessons, the prospect of casting spells without a wand was a fun one. For as far back as Constanze could remember, every witch she’d ever met dreamed about one day being able to cast spells without a wand, and every one of them had a story about them trying - and ultimately failing - at it. Constanze herself would admit that she tried too, though maybe not as much as her friends had. Like for everyone else she knew, her attempts had ended in failure, and chances were it’d happen again here.

Though, maybe not for everyone.

Constanze shifted her gaze to Diana. Out of everyone here, Diana had the highest chance of pulling off magic without a wand. Granted she hadn’t yet, but there were at least a few times when Constanze hadn’t heard her call an incantation when casting magic.

The door to room 325 was closed when the cluster arrived. The sound of sorceresses chatting to one another could be heard through the door. Odd, considering classes were supposed to be in session.

“Is everyone here?” Diana asked.

A few nods and yesses came from the other girls in the cluster.

“Sounds like it.” Amanda said.

“Very well.” Diana said. She pushed open the door

The layout of the classroom was in stark contrast to yesterday’s rooms. During yesterday’s lessons, the desks in each room were on opposite sides. Witches on one side, sorceresses on the other. Here the sorceresses All situated in a circle, with a School of Sorcery professor and Professor Ursula in the center of it.

“Good morning, witches of Luna Nova!” The School of Sorcery’s professor said. She beckoned them into the center of the circle. “I am Professor Miriam. I will be your instructor for the first half of the day. It is a pleasure to meet you all,”

A few of the witches returned the greeting. Constanze took another look around the room. The chatter from the sorceresses was dying down. One by one they were pulling out notebooks and a pen. They looked like they were ready to take notes.

This coupled with the layout of the classroom and with what Edenshaw said at breakfast, the implications of today’s lessons weren’t exactly comfortable.

“As you all know, today you will be practicing spells without your wands.” Professor Miriam said. “Now, I’d like to bring up our current seating arrangement.”

A few of the witches looked around.

Professor Miriam chuckled. “Like the Headmistress stated at breakfast, you will all be practicing magic without your wands. In the name of transparency, my students have been tasked to observe you during this time. They will be taking notes on your overall performance and will be submitting them to me at the end of the lesson. If you do not feel comfortable with this, you may abstain from today’s lessons.”

Constanze glanced at her cluster members. Everyone was looking at each other. After a moment some of the witches from the other groups split away from the cluster and exited the room.

“Huh. Didn’t think anyone would actually do it.” Amanda muttered.

“Don’t be crass, O’Neil.” Diana chastised. “There’s nothing wrong with abstaining from an activity.”

“Fine, fine.”

“Is there anyone else who would like to leave?” Professor Miriam asked.

All of the witches shook their heads.

“Very well then.” Professor Miriam said. “Please spread out within the enclosed space. Make sure there is ample room for the sorceresses to observe you.”

The cluster of witches spread out, filling in as much space as possible. For the most part, the red and green teams tried to stick together, with Diana, Hannah and Barbara vanishing to a different part of the circle. Perhaps that was for the best, considering how Antagonistic Akko could be to the blue team.

“Your objective for this lesson is simple.” Professor Miriam said. She and Professor Ursula began passing out colored cubes. “Do your best to make the cube levitate in the palm of your hand. Extra credit if you can force the cube to not move while suspended in the air.”

Extra credit? Were they being graded on this?

“The usage of wands will be prohibited for this lesson.” Professor Miriam continued. “You may begin now. If you are unfamiliar - the spell is _‘Volant’_ ”

After a moment of silence, the witches began to recite the spell. Constanze focused her gaze on the cube. She was supposed to lift this thing without a wand? How was she supposed to start? Constanze quietly muttered the spell.

…

Nothing. Not even a hint of magic, just as she expected. It was so natural to use her wand as a conduit that anything else seemed foreign. Then again, this whole lesson was about using herself as a conduit.

But how?

Constanze pinched the bridge of her nose. Why hadn’t the professor at least tried to point them in the right direction? All these eyes in the room certainly weren’t helping either. Constanze whispered the spell again, but again nothing.

Constanze grumbled and took her eyes off the cube, scanning the room. Thankfully enough, no one seemed to be watching her. In fact, everyone seemed to be focusing on the same two students - Akko and Amanda. Weird. Constanze directed her gaze toward the two girls.

Amanda didn’t seem to be doing much in regards to the lesson, merely playing with her cube. Constanze rolled her eyes. Not that she should’ve expected anything more.

Akko on the other hand seemed to be putting in some effort. She was repeating the spell over and over again gesturing wildly, but to no success.

The sound of snickering grabbed Constanze’s attention. Turning around, one of the sorceresses was leaning back in her chair trying - and failing to suppress her laughter. Constanze followed her gaze back to Akko.

Akko’s head flew up at the sound of laughter. Her face grew beat red at the sight of the sorceress. She shot the sorceress a glare and looked away.

Constanze shrugged and turned her attention back to her cube. Maybe it wasn’t too late to opt out. Being watched was fine, but being laughed at wasn’t particularly motivating. It looked like the sorceress was only laughing at Akko, but who was to say the others wouldn’t join in? At that point, who was to stop them?

Without warning, a loud cracking sound followed by a sharp yelp sounded around the room. Constanze whirled her head around to the source of the noise. One of the sorceresses - the same one who had laughed at Akko - had fallen out of her chair, which by the looks of its hind legs had snapped. A few of the witches and the girl’s classmates helped her back to her feet.

“Hey, you okay?”

“That fall looked nasty.”

“Do you want us to take you to the infirmary?”

“I’m fine girls, I’m fine. Thanks though.”

The sound of someone snickering caught Constanze’s attention. It was Akko, watching the events play out with a smug grin on her face.

Huh. Who knew Akko could be so spiteful.

Constanze eyed the broken chair. Apparently, karma existed after all.

“Alright, students!” Professor Miriam’s voice thundered throughout the room. “That’s enough excitement for now. If you would all be so kind as to resume your previous activities,” she shooed away the gaggle of students. “Thank you.” She turned her attention to the sorceress, who appeared to be fine, and fixed the chair before returning back to her desk.

The remainder of the class passed by without interest. It was only possible to practice for so long without beginning to lose focus. Perhaps the only surprise for the rest of the class was that Diana was unable to make the object float as requested.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 

After the lesson the nine girls were quick to make for the cafeteria, not wasting any time grabbing their lunch and making for their usual spot.

“Jeez.” Amanda said once their group got settled. “I swear my head was aboutta burst back there.”

Constanze nodded. For as exciting as the premise of the lesson was, it got boring quite fast.

“I agree with your sentiments, O’Neil.” Diana said. “Though I suspect that this lesson isn’t entirely for us.”

“You mean the sorceresses, right?”

“Indeed.” Diana said. “And besides, we are only here by their graces. I’m quite happy to be here at all.”

“Yeah, well they coulda at least tried to make it more interesting.” Amanda grumbled. “I swear I was gonna die from boredom.”

“Well you’d better prepare yourself.” Sucy said. “We’re probably gonna do it again.”

Constanze groaned. Sucy was probably right. By this point, the first class had taken everything out of her - mostly her concentration. If she wasn’t able to do it then she certainly wouldn’t be able to do it now.

Akko groaned and slammed her head against the wall. “Can I just skip the next class?”

“I sincerely hope you jest, Kagari.” Diana said. “All of us - especially you - need to make the most of this opportunity.”

“Hey!” Akko snapped back. “What’re you trying to say to me?!”

“Akko,” Lotte piped up, “not to be rude, but she has a point.”

Akko glared at Diana, but said nothing.

Constanze leaned her head against the rail and looked up at the Sorcerer’s Stone. Honestly skipping class sounded wonderful. Granted she’d never follow through on that, but she’d probably get more change out of skipping and working on her own projects. She was content with using her wand anyway. It wasn’t long after that that Headmistress Edenshaw came into the cafeteria to announce their next class.

As Sucy predicted, most of the class was exactly like the previous one. Constanze’s mind was steadily going blank as she repeatedly tried - and failed - to get her cube to so much as budge.

It was nearing the end of the class when the room erupted into gasps. Constanze shook herself out of her stupor and followed everyone’s eyes - to Diana.

Diana was breathing heavily, staring at her cube with a mixture of shock and exhaustion. Her cube was floating just inches above her hand. It was shaking and moving up and down wildly, but certainly floating. A shiver crept down Constanze’s spine at the sight.

“Well I’ll be.” A voice said from beside Constanze. She turned her head.

Amanda was looking at Diana with a calculating look.

“Figures, but still…”

Constanze looked back at Diana. It did ‘figure’. If anyone was going to get their cube to levitate it would’ve been Diana. Regardless, it was still impressive.

“Students, students! Please!” The professor yelled over the crowd. “While this is quite exciting I know, I request that everyone turn back to their task at hand.”

Eventually, the professor managed to wrangle everyone back under control. However, not too long after the excitement died down the final class bell rang. Constanze had never been happier to hear the end of class before.

“Thank you for your time, students!” The professor said. “Witches, please bring your cubes to me before you leave.”

“Finally.” Amanda grumbled. “I thought it’d never end.”

Without wasting any more time the red, green and blue teams dropped their cubes off and made their way to the cafeteria. The walk down was rather crowded, but fortunately, the nine girls were able to get to the cafeteria without much trouble. They quickly grabbed their food and made for their usual spot.

“I’m so glad it’s over!” Akko said once everyone was settled. “I thought I was gonna pass out at the end!”

“You were gasping for air.” Sucy said. “I’m surprised you were still conscious.”

“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?!”

“So uh, Diana,” Lotte cut in. “Congratulations on making your cube fly back in class.”

“Thank you.” Diana replied. “Truthfully it was harder than I anticipated. I never knew we witches were so limited without our wands.”

“But what about the Samhain Festival?” Barbara asked. “You cast that spell without a wand then!”

Diana shook her head. “No. I cast the spell without talking, not without a wand.” She sighed. “Though even then, casting it without talking was harder as well.”

Constanze put her hand on her chin. So not only had she pulled off advanced summoning magic, but she’d done it without talking too?

By this point, it’d be surprising if she was still at the School of Witchcraft by the end of the semester, especially now that she had an application.

“Did you cast the levitation spell today without words too?” Lotte asked.

Diana shook her head. “No. I mumbled them. I’d rather cause the least ruckus possible since we were being observed.”

Constanze began to tune out the rest of the conversation as she turned her back towards her friends. Stanbot joined her as she began to mindlessly scan the crowd below her, feeling both time and the tension of the day begin to leave her.

Today was exhausting.

Sure, the prospect of not being bound to a wand was every witch’s dream. Constanze wasn’t aware of a single witch who liked being stuck with a wand - including herself. Who knew it could be so physically taxing though.

She could probably melt into a puddle if she tried hard enough.

“Hey, Conze?” Amanda’s voice snapped Constanze out of her thoughts.

Constanze looked up. Amanda - along with the rest of the group were already on their feet.

“Glad to see you’re not dozing off.” Amanda chuckled. She flashed Constanze a grin. “You ready to skedaddle?”

Constanze nodded. She stood up, grabbing Stanbot and placing it on her shoulder before following the rest of the group downstairs. All of them dropped off their trays once more before stepping into the hallway.

“So,” Lotte said, “we’ll be meeting back at the dorm?”

Diana nodded. “Yes. But remember everyone, we must be back by no later than nine-thirty.”

Sucy grumbled. “Yeah, yeah. We get it.”

“So, see you all later?” Akko asked.

“Yes!” Jasminka said. “Be careful everyone!”

The three teams (primarily the green and red teams) bid each other goodbye before parting ways. Constanze fell in line behind Amanda and put a hand to her chin. Where was the best place to spend time? She glanced at Stanbot. Her creation was sitting idly on her shoulder. Maybe she could give Stanbot a few tweaks once they settled down? She had her tools on her.

“Hey, girls?” Amanda said.

Constanze turned her attention back towards her friend. Amanda’s expression was unreadable.

“Yes, Amanda?” Jasminka asked. “Did you need something?”

“Sort of.” Amanda said. “Sorry girls, but can you wait here for a minute? There’s something I wanna talk to Akko about.”

Constanze gave her a thumbs up. Akko? Was this about them sneaking out the last two nights?

“Sure.” Jasminka said. “What did you need to talk to Akko about?”

“Eh, nothing major.” Amanda said. “I’m just worried I’ll forget if I wait, y’know?”

“Of course!” Jasminka said. “We’ll be here!”

Amanda gave a thumbs up and slipped into the crowd.

= = = = = = = = = =

“Alright!” Akko said. She pumped her fist into the air. “Sucy, Lotte, where do you wanna go?”

Akko, Sucy and Lotte hadn’t moved from where the three teams separated. The green team had taken off down the hallway, and Hannah and Barbara were left to their own devices as Diana had mentioned something about going back to the library. Probably to that book she checked out.

Whatever. The less she had to worry about Diana the better.

“Hm…” Lotte said. Maybe we could go find some spirits to talk to?”

“Or go loot the school stores.” Sucy said. “I still want to get my hands on some of those materials.”

Akko felt a shiver run up her spine. The thought of Sucy getting her hands on the school’s wares… nope! No thanks! Especially since she’d probably be the test subject.

“Hey, Sucy? Let’s not go stealing the school’s materials. We’re guests here, and the school staff probably wouldn’t be too pleased if they caught you stealing their supplies.”

Sucy shrugged in response. “So we’re gonna go talk to spirits then?”

Akko felt her heart skip a beat. Hopefully not. Akko wasn’t exactly a spirit medium, but she’d taken a course on conversing with them. During that time she’d interacted with a fair share of the school’s spirits. If nothing else they had good memories. They’d probably recognize her.

But maybe she was just being paranoid.

“Well, I hope so.” Lotte said. She put a hand to her chin. “I haven’t actually seen any spirits here yet. I was hoping we could go look for them.”

“So we could go explore some more?” Akko asked.

Lotte nodded. “M-hm! I know you wanna go explore more of the castle, Akko!”

“For better or for worse.” Sucy said.

Akko pumped her fist in the air again. This was great! There were so many more places in the school Akko wanted to show her friends! Some of her all-time favorite places were in the school!

_And spirit free too._

“Hey, Akko!” A voice behind her called out.

Akko turned around. Amanda was emerging from the crowd, sporting a smile on her face.

“Hey, Amanda.” Akko said. “What’s up?”

“Can I talk to ya for a sec?” Amanda asked. “There’s something I gotta ask.”

Akko cocked her head. “Sure. What’s this about?”

Amanda looked around. “Eh, probably not here.” She said. “Could we take this elsewhere? It’s pretty loud.”

“What’s going on?” Sucy asked.

“Sorry girls.” Akko said. “I’ll just be back in a minute.”

“Don’t worry. We’re not going anywhere.”

Akko followed Amanda around the corner of a hallway, one that was just as - if not more crowded than the one Sucy and Lotte were back in.

_This is about the chair, isn’t it?_

“So what’d you wanna talk to me about?” Akko asked.

Amanda raised an eyebrow. “I think you know.”

“Uhhh… no?”

Amanda gave her a withering look.

“Ugh, fine.” Akko deflated. “Yes, I broke the chair’s legs.”

“I know.” Amanda said. “It wasn’t hard to figure out.”

Akko looked back to where Sucy and Lotte were. “At least the witches couldn’t tell.”

“I wouldn’t be here if I thought they couldn’t, Akko.” Amanda said. “You don’t give our friends enough credit.”

“Why?” Akko’s foot began to tap. “They don’t know about us.”

“I’m pretty sure our records are still here.”

“...”

“...”

“Well… yeah.”

“Also if we’re not careful we could blow it ourselves. If we hadn’t put the word out a couple nights ago we’d already be busted. Remember what could happen if we get caught?”

Akko nodded. If they were discovered then the consequences would be severe. Indefinite suspension and potential expulsion… The School of Witchcraft would probably accept nothing less.

“Yeah, Amanda. I know. I promise I won’t do it again.”

Amanda nodded. “Thank you.” She turned around and began to make her way back to where her friends were. “Let’s skedaddle, yeah?”

“Sure.” Akko said. She followed Amanda back into the hallway.

“Alrighty. I’m headed back to find Constanze and Jaz.” Amanda gave her a smile and a small wave. “Catch ya back at the dorms.”

“Okay!” Akko said, returning the wave. “See you!”

Breaking off from Amanda, Akko navigated the throng of students back to where she left Sucy and Lotte.

_Great! They’re still there!_

“Sorry about the holdup, girls!” Akko said once she was close enough. “It was just something small.”

Sucy shrugged. “If you say so.”

“So,” Lotte said, “where are we headed?”

Akko put a hand to her chin. Where to? The courtyard? Nah, not interesting enough unless you flew to the rooftops. Maybe the outskirts of the campus? No. Again, flying was the only fun part about it. Maybe the observatory then?

Akko’s face lit up. _That’s it!_

“I have an idea!” Akko said. She grabbed Sucy’s and Lotte’s hands. “Follow me!”

“Wha - ah! Akko, where are we going?” Lotte asked.

“The observatory!” Akko said. “The view’s gonna be great!

“But, Akko! Won’t there be evening classes there?”

“No!” Akko called back! “Why would there be?” They were already two floors up now.

“Because it’s the observatory?” Sucy jabbed. “They look up at the night sky.”

“Yeah, but not this one!” Akko said.

“How would you know that?”

Easy! “When we were coming back last night! I saw the observatory! Nobody was there, so nobody will be there tonight, right?”

_Well, maybe a few people, but classes are never held in this one!_

“I’m not sure that’s how it works.”

The three girls came to a stop at the top floor. Akko turned around and looked at her friends. They were both slightly out of breath. Sucy was giving her an exasperated look.

“Well, yeah… you’re right.” Akko said. “But we’re up here now! Let’s give it a try!”

“Well, alright.” Lotte said. “So if we were at the animal barns last night then…”

“This way!” Akko said. She immediately pelted towards the direction of the observatory. She could hear Lotte yelling something behind her, but she didn’t pay any attention.

For the most part, Akko didn’t encounter anyone on her way towards the observatory. Sure there were a few sorceresses she saw on her way, but most preferred to be on the lower floors, or up higher on the roof or in the sky. There weren’t any witches either. Perhaps they didn’t feel like they were allowed? It was a bit of a shame really.

_Oh well. More room for us!_

Akko eagerly threw open the doors and barreled onto the balcony. There were a few sorceresses also on the balcony, but not many. Akko recognized a couple from some of her previous classes. They gave her a friendly wave, one she reciprocated before walking up to the railing and placing her hands on it. The crisp air filled her lungs as she looked down on the campus grounds.

“Wow.” Lotte’s voice came from behind. She and Sucy each joined her at the railing. “That’s quite a view.”

Akko nodded. The colors of twilight blanketed the campus grounds. All below her Akko could make out students - both witches and sorceresses alike meandering about. Akko rested her head in her arms. “Uh-huh.” She said lazily. “It’s so beautiful.”

She could stay like this forever.

= = = = = = = = = =

The sunset was absolutely beautiful, Lotte had to agree.

It wasn’t often she saw the sunset back at the School of Witchcraft. A combined force of the sheer workload, carving out time for her own recreational activities, and trying desperately to keep up with whatever crazy antics Akko (and sometimes Sucy) had planned that day never gave her much chance to see the sunset. It was a shame really because there was something special about sunsets. The way the light bounced off the Earth, blanketing the world in its myriad of reds and oranges was always a sight to behold, and viewing it from this high up made the experience all the richer.

“You look like you’re having fun.” Sucy said. 

Lotte nodded. “Mhm!” She said. “Sunsets are the greatest, and this view just makes it even better!”

Sucy began picking at her uniform. “Eh, I don’t think so.”

Lotte gave her a small smile. “Not a fan, huh?”

“Sunsets never did it for me. You’re just watching a big ball of fire fall.” Sucy glanced at Akko. “They might’ve done it too well for her though.”

Lotte glanced at Akko. A soft rising and falling motion from her body was visible.

Lotte shook her head, giggling slightly. Leave it to Akko to fall asleep on a railing of all places. Oh well, at least she looked content.

Lotte looked back at the sunset. The sun was almost fully past the horizon now.

Her thoughts wandered to Akko. How interesting was it that Akko would suggest to come here in the first place. Sure they’d never been here, but everyone knows that observatories are home to nighttime classes. Lotte was no expert on sorceresses, but odds were that even they needed the nighttime to do proper stargazing.

The stars were beginning to show themselves. Lotte’s smile grew wider. Akko really picked a nice spot to kill time. It was so peaceful, free from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the school, the view was spectacular and there was nobody on the balcony except for them, with the few sorceresses that were there having left a fair while ago.

But that was the thing.

Lotte’s smile faded. _How did she know this would be empty?_ Well, she really didn’t. It was more of a lucky guess from the sounds of it. Akko’s chaotic reasoning on that front could hardly be considered logic.

Lotte glanced back at Akko. The lucky guess wasn’t really the source of Lotte’s confusion. It was everything else. Akko’s knowledge of the School of Sorcery’s application process was the main thing bugging her. Akko had described it word for word how it worked days before they left.

“Hey, Sucy?” The words were out of her mouth before she knew it.

“Hmm?” Sucy turned to look at Lotte.

“Well…” Lotte hesitated. Should she ask? Was it even worth it? She glanced at the horizon. The sun had fully set now. “Do you think Akko’s been acting strangely recently?”

Sucy blinked. “It’s Akko.” She said. “She’s always acting strange.”

“Well, I guess, but -”

“No more than usual, I suppose.”

“You think so?”

Sucy shrugged. “I mean, I guess a little.” She gestured to Akko’s sleeping form. “I’ve given up trying to understand her.”

“Well, I was just thinking about how much she knows of this place.” Lotte said. “How did she know this place was so vacant?”

“You mean you _don’t_ believe she saw this place on the way back last night?” Sucy cackled.

“Not really.” Lotte said.

“Well you’re right.” Sucy said. “She didn’t.”

Lotte’s eyes widened. “Wait, really? How do you know?”

Sucy pointed off the balcony. “Look for the barn.”

Lotte’s eyes began flitting about wildly, darting from point to point across the campus. The barn was nowhere in sight.

_Then, how did she-?_

“Constanze’s robot told me this morning.” Sucy said. Lotte turned her attention back to Sucy. “Apparently both Akko and Amanda have been sneaking out at night.”

Lotte’s heart skipped a beat. “So you think they came up here?”

“It’s possible.” Sucy shrugged again. “I dunno why she’d keep it to herself though. Maybe she’s smarter than I thought.”

“What do you mean?”

Sucy pushed herself away from the railing. “Think about it.” she said. “Breaking the rules here is probably worse for us than breaking the rules back at school. The Headmistress said we’re under her rules while we’re here. That probably goes for punishments too. We’d probably get another punishment from Holbrooke as well. I wouldn’t tell anyone I was breaking rules here.”

Lotte sighed. “I guess… it’s just a little weird.”

“Weird watching Akko play it smart?”

“Sucy!”

Sucy’s only response was a cackle.

Lotte looked back towards the horizon. There was no trace of the sun’s light anymore. She could still make out a few students still on the campus grounds, but not as many as before. The bell would probably ring soon.

“We should probably get going soon.” Lotte said. “We’re probably cutting it close now.”

“Fine by me.” Sucy said. She uncorked a vial and held it under Akko’s nose. Almost immediately the girl repelled off the railing, coughing up a storm.

“Jeez, Sucy!” Akko said. “You didn’t have to go that far!”

Sucy only cackled, corking the vial and tucking it back into her pocket.

Lotte gave Sucy a reprimanding look before turning towards Akko. “We’re gonna head back, Akko. It’s late.”

“Wait, already?” Akko said. She looked at the horizon, deflating slightly.

“Awww… I slept through it.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t be so tired next time.” Sucy said.

Akko pouted before turning towards the doors and back into the school. Sucy and Lotte were quick to follow.

It wasn’t too long before the girls found themselves in front of their dorm room. From the sounds of it, everyone else was already back.

“We’re always the last ones back, aren’t we?” Sucy remarked.

“They’re just afraid to stay out later.”

“Or smarter.”

“Hey!”

“I’m glad to see you all made it back in time.” Diana said from behind them.

The red team turned around to face her. Diana was already in her nightgown.

“Yeah, we did.” Akko said. “Are you happy?”

“I am.” Diana said. “Thank you.” She moved past them and opened the door to their room. “It’s five minutes until nine-thirty. I’d recommend getting ready now.”

Lotte bowed her head in thanks as Diana held the door open for them. She followed Akko and Sucy toward their team’s bed. She grabbed her nightgown and quickly changed into it. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Akko heading out of the room.

_Probably to the showers. ___

__Lotte placed her uniform back into her bag and pulled out her copy of Nightfall, climbing into her bunk and opening it._ _

__“Reading already, Lotte?” Amanda called up to her._ _

__Lotte looked towards Amanda. She was lying on her bed grinning cheekily at her. Lotte immediately felt heat rise to her face. What was she doing? Now was the time to talk to her friends, with what little time they had._ _

__“Sorry, Amanda! I didn’t realize you wanted to talk.” She quickly slipped the bookmark back in place and set the book aside._ _

__“Woah, woah, Lotte, don’t worry. I was just joking.” Amanda said. “Though if you wanna talk, sure. The days have been pretty rough around here.”_ _

__“I agree.” Diana said from her bed. She was still reading the book from yesterday. “In comparison to our school, the classes here are much more taxing.”_ _

__“Says the witch who used magic without a wand.” Amanda said._ _

__“Just because I used magic without a wand doesn’t mean I wasn’t exhausted, O’Neil.” Diana replied. “I dare say it was one of the most strenuous things I’ve ever done.”_ _

__Lotte nodded. She was able to see Diana's face when the cube flew. The girl looked like she was about to keel over right then and there._ _

___Still… ____ _

____“That was really impressive today, Diana.” Lotte said. “I don’t think any of us could have come even close to what you did today.”_ _ _ _

____“I see…” Diana said. She looked moderately surprised at Lotte’s compliment. “Thank you then.”_ _ _ _

____“Think you’re gonna enroll here, Cavendish?” Amanda piped up. “I’m sure the school would love to have you.”_ _ _ _

____“A very good question, O'Neil.” Diana said. “Truthfully I’m not sure.”_ _ _ _

____“Really?” Amanda looked almost disappointed. “Why not? Isn’t this everything you’ve wanted?”_ _ _ _

____“I’d rather not speak on that topic, O’Neil.” Diana replied. “It’s no one’s concern but mine.”_ _ _ _

____Amanda looked ready to give back a retort but seemed to think twice about it before shrugging._ _ _ _

____Silence resurfaced for the three of them, each of them up to their own devices. Lotte’s mind began to wander to what she’d asked Sucy about earlier. Should she bring it up while Akko wasn’t around? She’d probably be back soon. Lotte shook her head. It was probably best to avoid bringing it up. There wasn’t any reason to involve the rest of them. Besides, if what Sucy said was true then Amanda would know exactly what she was talking about._ _ _ _

____“I’m back!” Akko called, opening the door and walking towards the red team’s bunk._ _ _ _

____“You’re late.” Sucy pointed to a clock. Nine-forty._ _ _ _

____“Nobody caught me.” Akko said. She walked over to her bed and deposited her uniform before falling headfirst onto the bed. Lotte couldn't help but chuckle slightly._ _ _ _

____“Tired?”_ _ _ _

____“M-hm…” Akko groaned._ _ _ _

____“I’d suggest getting some rest then.” Diana said. “There’s no point in grumbling about it.”_ _ _ _

____“I don’t care,” came the muffled reply, “I didn’t ask you.” A sigh came from Diana’s direction._ _ _ _

____“So, lights out then?” Amanda asked._ _ _ _

____“Sure.” Lotte said. She reached under her pillow and pulled out a night light. The lights went out shortly after._ _ _ _

____Lotte lost track of the time she spent reading, only taking notice once she felt her eyes begin to burn. She stole a glance at the blue team’s bed. Even Diana was asleep._ _ _ _

_____That’s probably enough for tonight. ____ _ _ _

______She closed the book and placed it and the night light under her pillow and pulled up the covers. As soon as she closed her eyes she could feel sleep washing over her in waves. She smiled._ _ _ _ _ _

______She’d need all the sleep she could get for tomorrow. Whatever that would bring._ _ _ _ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, y'all. Sorry about not posting at all for half a year. I'm still holding myself to that promise, but I can't say the schedule will be consistent at all. All I know is it'll just happen from time to time. That said, stay safe everyone.


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